or the Albanian political system, elections are always a good opportunity for “friendship attacks” towards Greece, as good relations with our country are important for a large part of the Albanian people. These “friendship attacks” usually last as long as the election period, as the experience of the last 35 years has proven.

In recent days, on the occasion of the presence in Greece of Sali Berisha, leader of the opposition Democratic Party and a mortal enemy of Edi Rama, and the interview given by the Albanian Prime Minister, it is once again seen that the two Albanian politicians are trying to embellish their image and thus forget their “achievements”, and entertain doubts about the sincerity of their current election statements about Greece.

For Athens there should be no question of choosing a face. Instead, the priority is to formulate a comprehensive strategy for relations with Albania, which, for the moment, is not visible. These relations should, first of all, be inspired by respect for the principle of good neighbourliness, by respect for the minority rights of the Greek National Minority and, above all, by avoiding the cultivation of anti-Hellenism through irredentism, which is a frequent tool of policy-making in Albania.

Sea zones

A milestone in the relations between the two countries is also the agreement on the delimitation of maritime zones or the referral of the dispute to the Hague.

Berisha is back in the spotlight attempting to unite the opposition and succeed in ousting Rama, who, however, still holds the lead ahead of the May 11 elections.

Berisha, from the podium of a gathering of his supporters at the Peace and Friendship Stadium, attacked Rama, blaming him for the problems in Greek-Albanian relations. At the same time, he seeks to take advantage of the fact that, in the ranks of his party, the minority party KEAAD will be represented as a co-party, since, due to the electoral system, this is the only possibility for at least its president, Vangelis Doules, to be elected as a deputy.

However, Berisha, despite his current warm words about Greece, is the politician who expressed, in the most extreme way, anti-Hellenism in Albania, marking a long period of time during which he ruled either as president (1992-1997) or prime minister (2005-2013)

He was the orchestrator of the first major crisis in 1993, with the expulsion of the then Archimandrite Chrysostomos Maidoni of Argyrokastro, which was accompanied by moves against the minority. The reaction of the government of Constantine Mitsotakis, despite the ideological affinity of the two ruling parties and the personal support Berisha had received, was immediate and harsh, with the imposition of the well-known six conditions on Tirana.

“The government of Greece demands the same rights for the Greek community living in Albania as those demanded by the Albanian government for the Albanian communities in the former Yugoslavia,” Konstantinos Mitsotakis had said at the time.

But Berisha, shortly afterwards, in 1994, engineered the plot against the minority by arresting the leadership of OMONOIA and the so-called “trial of the five”, causing a new crisis in Greek-Albanian relations.

Without ever having abandoned irredentism, as he has always been a supporter of the claims of the Chamides, whom he had included in his government, in 2013 he referred to “Albanian territories in Greece that reach up to Preveza”, provoking a strong reaction from Athens and leading to the last-minute cancellation of the visit of then Foreign Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos to Tirana for the celebrations of the founding of the Albanian state. In 2005, during his premiership, another diplomatic incident had been triggered, as the then President of the Republic Karolos Papoulias, who had worked for Greek-Albanian friendship, was forced to cancel his visit to Saranda.
Carolina’s visit to visit the island of Sarajevo was canceled by the President of the Republic of Moldova.

The reason was that a gathering of “Chamies” had been organized outside his hotel, who demanded to meet with him. The list of provocative statements against Greece by Berisha is long. Of course, during his tenure, there were two “good moments”, as the Friendship Pact was signed with then President Kostis Stephanopoulos, while in 2008 there was the important agreement on the delimitation of maritime zones between the two countries, which, however, was annulled after then opposition leader Edi Rama intervened in the Supreme Court.

Organised crime

Rama is a politician adaptable to serve his own interests, but also the interests of a wider circle of “organised interests”, which, according to opposition allegations, are linked to organised crime.

He was the politician who organised and orchestrated the appeal to the country’s Supreme Court to annul the Maritime Zones Delimitation Agreement with Greece, an agreement that closed a major outstanding issue in Greek-Albanian relations. The reasoning of the court that adopted Rama’s appeal was a translation into Albanian of the reasoning used by the Turkish foreign ministry to challenge Greek sovereign rights in the Aegean under the Law of the Sea Convention. Besides, Berisha had publicly denounced that the appeal was dictated to Rama by Ankara.

Rama has made no secret of his close ties with Ankara andTajip Erdogan, whom he considers a top ally. The arrest of Fredi Beleri and the electoral coup in Himarra was not only a message to the Greek minority and Athens, but also a move to serve economic interests, which, under his protection, are ransacking the touristic areas of Albania, trespassing and expropriating minority properties. This move caused the major crisis in Greek-Albanian relations, which culminated in the imposition of the ‘Rama Law’ in Himara and after Belleris served his sentence imposed by the controlled court and was elected as a Member of the European Parliament.

Rama has on several occasions supported the demands of the “Chamirs” and his provocative statements just before the 2018 visit to Tirana by then Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias had caused a backlash. There had even been a “spontaneous” gathering of “Chamies” outside the Foreign Ministry in Tirana, where they attempted to block the arrival of the Greek minister’s car.

Rama, wanting at a difficult time for his country to pave the European way, pledged in October 2021 to then foreign minister Nikos Dendias to start talks on referring the dispute over the delimitation of the continental shelf to The Hague. This option was a concession by Athens to Tirana, as the previous agreement had been signed by both sides and all kinds of pressure would have to be exerted to have it ratified, even with minor amendments. Since then, two or three expert meetings have initially taken place and then Rama froze the process.

Today he appears again, via his interview, to “sell” Greece on his 2021 commitment, which he himself has shelved.

Relations with Soros

The Albanian prime minister has had privileged relations with George Soros (although he has tried to make his social media accounts disappear from his photos, notably with the businessman’s son Alexander Soros). But he also has business deals with Donald Trump’s son-in-law for hotel developments, with an ambitious project on Sasson Island.

Berisha, an old “fox”, now playing the card of supposed support from the new US administration because of Rama’s relations with Soros (a red flag for Washington) and the hiring of Trump’s campaign manager for the Democratic Party’s campaign, is going to the polls with enhanced confidence.

In any case, he is an extremely difficult, but to some extent manageable, politician. Athens has no reason to “bet” on either of the two politicians who will contest the governance of Albania in the next elections, but by remaining neutral it must remain in a principled political position and make full use of the “weapon” offered by the necessary consensus on Albania’s European course, as well as the presence in Greece of a numerous and prosperous Albanian community.