Foreign Ministry announcement on the actions taken following the hanging of a provocative banner at the Albania-Switzerland match

Following the hanging of the provocative and confrontational banner at the EURO 2016 Albania-Switzerland football match, we announce that the following actions were taken:

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Efstratios Efthymiou issued an immediate response, setting out the Ministry’s position on the hanging of the provocative banner.

Deputy Culture and Sports Minister Stavros Kontonis sent a very stern letter of protest to the Secretary General of UEFA, Theodoros Theodoridis.

The Greek Embassy in Paris proceeded to an expression of protest to the French Foreign Ministry.

Demarches were made by the Greek Foreign Ministry to the French and Albanian Ambassadors in Athens.

Two very stern demarches were made by the Greek Ambassador in Tirana, Leonidas Rokanas, to the leadership of the Albanian Foreign Ministry, asking that they condemn the deplorable, unacceptable and brazen action of the hanging of the banner.

Subsequent to the above expressions of protest, the French organizers and UEFA noted that the hanging of the banner in question was carried out before the match began, stressed that its removal was immediate, and assured us that all necessary measures will be taken to ensure this unacceptable incident is not repeated.

The Albanian side was asked to condemn this brazen action officially. So far, Albania appears not to have grasped the necessity of such a move, but the required actions will be taken to make this necessity understood.