Thank you very much for the invitation. I also thank you for the kind words that were said. I thank every Albanian man and woman who, through their work, their friendship, their whole presence in Greece, is contributing to the development of my country. Through family and day-to-day ties, they link the two countries. I personally thank every university student from Albania who participated in my classes and seminars and today is prospering here in Albania. I am proud of those students. 700,000 Albanians live in Greece. Of those, 140,000 have taken Greek citizenship. Some 7,000 are now private business owners. I want to underscore from this platform how lucky we Greek are that the first wave of economic migrants and refugees came from your country. Serious people, courteous, family oriented, hardworking, fond of knowledge, without fanaticism or extremism. People who found a good and well-ordered life, while decisively assisting their homeland, integrated into Greek society as no other people coming from third countries. They are a bridge of mutual understanding.
Greece and Albania have a long history of relations, woes, hopes, with moments of joy and of difficulties. We are here to contribute towards strengthening the positive energy between the two countries. We want, we must, we will try and manage to make our relations a model, to the benefit of Europe itself.
In these relations of ours there is a major bridge that connects us: the national Greek minority in Albania. People with a high level of education, with faith in their country, and with love for Greece. Their rights constitute an historical imperative and a European perspective.
The third bridge is the Orthodox Christian Church of Albania, which is headed by the wise humanist Archbishop Anastasios.
We are living in an era that, on the one hand, is rife with dangers and insecurities, but is also full of hopes, potentials, prospects.
Today, the region of Southeast Europe is caught in a triangle of instability between three war zones: Ukraine, Libya and the Middle East – Syria and Iraq in particular. Waves of instability are coming from the corners of the triangle. Through cooperation in our region, we need to reverse such trends, make sure that waves of stability move from us to all sides of the triangle. We need to act positively.
In this context we are strengthening the bilateral cooperation between the two states, Albania and Greece. In the region, we support the SEECP, which was successfully chaired by Albania last year, and by Bulgaria this year. We formed a new institution, the quadrilateral platform between Bulgaria, FYROM, Albania and Greece, which already had its first meeting, in April, in Thessaloniki, on the level of Foreign Ministers.
In the decade of the 1990s, our whole region was oriented towards developing its relations anew, following the collapse of communism. The role of Greek enterprises in promoting a social market economy was decisive. Even more decisive was Greece’s presence during the first decade of the 21st century, during which Southeast Europe’s Euroatlantic path was opened and is already being implemented. Twenty years ago, Greece was the only member state of EU and NATO. Today, five states (Greece, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia and Romania) in the region are members of the EU, and six (with the addition of Albania and, soon, Montenegro) are members of NATO. We support the accession of all of the states of the Western Balkans to the EU, to a democratized EU.
The priority today is for the plans of the previous decades to be combined. The goal is twofold: strengthening of the relations among us and, at the same time, shaping of large infrastructure networks, enhancement of the socioeconomic relations between all of the countries in the region. The strengthening of our relations will facilitate the region’s European course and, in the future, the region’s enhanced presence in the institutions and policies of the EU. In this context, ten days ago we launched – with Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia – an informal ongoing cooperation of the region’s four EU member states.
Albania’s European perspective, the very Europeanization of the social elite, has our undivided and full support. The realization of the five European goals that have been set in Albania will contribute to the promotion of domestic reforms in our neighbour, and it will also bring our two states closer together. Greece, one of the oldest member states of the European Union, has experience and knowledge of the processes and “quirks” of the EU and is ready at any time to assist with any request from its friend Albania.
At the same time, we don’t want to leave old problems unresolved; old problems that will create difficulties on Albania’s European path. We want these problems to be resolved through understanding, dialogue, rationality and maturity, at the soonest possible time.
The EU is a system of justice. A system run by justice and law, by the rule of law. It functions according to rules. We have infused it with the culture of dialogue and mutual respect. The culture of consensus and positive compromises. It is precisely this culture that must be spread throughout the Western Balkans. And for this to happen, we – Albania and Greece – must set a positive example for the whole region. In this spirit we want to overcome the misunderstandings and extremist (chauvinistic) mindsets. We are pursuing the resolution of old problems and capitalization on new potentials of the common course forward.
The course towards Europe does not concern just Albania or refer only to the Western Balkans. It concerns in particular what we call the Albanian factor as a whole. Like the German-speaking peoples of the 20th century, the Albanians are organized in two states and have a special position in a third (Germany, Austria and the Swiss cantons, in the first case, and Albania, Kosovo and the Albanians of FYROM, in the latter). The European path is the path that will lead to institutional coexistence of all of the Albanians of these states. Moreover, for the first time, under our government, we opened a substantial dialogue and cooperation with Kosovo.
Albania is the only NATO member state in the Western Balkans. It is the pillar of stability there. The cooperation between Albania and Greece within NATO, as well as bilaterally, on issues of security and stability, has produced the first positive indications. This cooperation needs to become even more intensive, to the benefit of the whole region.
I would also like to make the following observation: despite the crisis in the Greek economy, with repercussions for the whole of our society, Greece is still far and away the most powerful country in the region. It has substantial advantages. It doesn’t have just its GDP, which, in spite of a 25% fall, is five times that of Bulgaria and ten times that of Albania. There is its participation in all of the western institutions. There is the expertise it has, the capacities and capabilities it has.
At the same time, Albania is a country with an important role in the region. Especially in the Western Balkans, its role is pivotal. The Albanian factor is the most energetic it has been in recent years; the youngest. If we marry Greek power with the dynamic of Albanian energy, it will multiply the capacities of the whole region. That is why it is important for there to be a solution to the problems between us and cooperation on the prospects.
We need to further develop trade and investments on both sides. We need to implement the European acquis with regard to the latter, ensuring their functionality. We need to develop our cross-border cooperation – social and economic. Cooperation in sectors such as energy – the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) is already moving ahead – security overall, and education and culture.
The stability in our relations and the further development of our relations, the rational response – also based on international law – on any pending issues we have, will also pull in the other states in the region. It will be a positive example for their conduct, so that they can develop tolerance for diversity.
So we need to fight the mistaken negative stereotypes between our peoples. Stereotypes that exist in school books or – more frequently – are projected by our countries’ news media. In general, we need to try to keep foreign policy from becoming a hostage to domestic exigencies and be much less dictated by them. Instead, we must facilitate mutual understanding between the two peoples and the two states.
Every collaboration, just like a tango, requires two careful partners. Two who want to succeed together, and no one to act to the detriment of the other. And this is precisely what Ditmir and I want.
All of these thoughts, and many more that my friend the Albanian Foreign Minister and I have exchanged, can be incorporated into a renewed agreement on friendship, cooperation, and security between the two countries. An agreement that we should agree on the basic elements of within the year. New sectors of cooperation – such as energy, archeology, transfer of European know-how – can be incorporated into this agreement. At the same time, it can resolve problems that we agree, jointly, must be overcome. We want to update and enrich the friendship agreement between the two countries.
The friendship agreement and the preamble we will incorporate into it will be a reaffirmation of friendship and the non-state of war between the two states.
This agreement will provide for the cooperation of the two countries, at least our side proposes, for the support of Albania’s European course – any technical solutions or clarifications requested by either side – so that already existing agreements can be implemented, along with the convening of committees of experts wherever they are needed.
Personally, I attach great importance to culture and to cultural diplomacy. We love the dances of the Albanians and those of the Greeks. The same goes for music and other art forms. I propose the establishment of weeks of Albanian and Greek art, such as music and cinema, under our auspices, so that we can become better acquainted and promote our achievements.
Through this, the educational programme of the national Greek minority in your country will be upgraded. More generally, the teaching of Greek as a foreign language will be bolstered in Albania’s educational system. The Greek and Albanian studies at our universities will be upgraded, and collaboration between these programmes will be intensified. Moreover, as the Foreign Ministry, we will promote at the competent ministries the teaching of Albanian to the children of Albanian immigrants. In the same context, we will contribute to the good and effective functioning of the joint committee of experts on school books.
As for the rights of the Greek national minority, I hope that an Albania on its way towards the EU will do in a timely manner, and on its own initiative, what is provided for by European law with regard to protection of the minority’s rights throughout Albanian territory, starting with property rights.
And as there is talk of the economic aspects, we support the promotion of the Joint Interministerial Committee (JIC) on economic issues. We also proposed the holding of a business forum under the auspices of the two Foreign Ministries. The monitoring and implementation of the action plan in the tourism sector. The same in the agriculture, water management and transport sectors. In the latter we will support the creation – with the help of the EU – of the necessary infrastructure that will cross the Balkans. To ensure overall more favorable conditions for investments, as well as capitalization on and functioning of already existing investments, of business activity.
The list of social actions and synergies can and must be endless. I shared some thoughts here. We can and, in my opinion, must move ahead with their implementation. For this to happen in an effective manner, without the two sides getting caught up in bureaucratic procedures, we need to consolidate even further the relations between our countries in the direction we already have as Foreign Ministries. The majority of Greeks have learned to respect Albania and the Albanian factor. We are not living in the era of the collapse of the then political system, of Albanian refugees and lack of prospects in Albania. Albania is being upgraded to a modern European country, and we want to be together with it on this scene. We do not allow our northwestern neighbour to be underestimated. Together we will shape the region’s future. By the same token, no one in Albania should forget that the country’s future is linked to good relations with its southern neighbour. Nor should they underestimate the tools Greece has at its disposal, even today.
There really are stronger countries than ours in Europe and the world. But their focus on Albania is inconstant. It is not a top priority. We, on the other hand, want and are working for a relationship of equality that, from the problems of the past, is today creating friendship and future gains. Strong relations between Albania and Greece lend power to our states and peoples. They fuel our people with hope. They contribute to the stability and security of the whole region.
June 12, 2016