The Greek Foreign Minister, Nikos Kotzias, in an interview for the Greek
State News Agency “AMNA”, considered as positive the conclusions of the
Slovakian presidency about the integration of Albania, Macedonia and
Turkey.
He expressed appreciation for the positions held by Greece regarding Albania, especially with matters related to the Greek minority, properties, etc, and good neighboring relations.
According to Kotzia, different from former reports, which were focused almost entirely on the justice reform, now there are five priorities as essential conditions for opening the EU negotiations. Some of these are promotion of the justice reform, fight against organized crime and respect for minorities.
Kotzias underlined that Albania will need to protect rights of minorities throughout the entire territory, not only in the minority areas. And this is also related to property rights.
The Greek FM said that a careful approach was taken towards nationalist rhetoric heard during the past months. He specified only some elements of the government as related to this rhetoric, and underlined the importance of good neighboring with Albania, especially since there is a high number of Albanians in FYROM.
“We want Albania to be European and accepted in the EU, but not if they don’t do it with merits. Only by respecting the rules which are set for everybody else”, Kotzias said, adding that Greece has the good will to help Albania meet these criteria, by also continuing dialogue for the matters between our countries which are still unresolved.
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