Athens rejects Endy Rama’s<\/b> claims of progress in EEZ consultations with Albania<\/b> and has drawn a clear diplomatic line<\/b> on pending issues<\/b>.<\/p>\n
In a highly charged geopolitical environment in Eastern Mediterranean<\/b> and the Balkans<\/b>, Athens is clearly reaffirming its stance on maritime zones<\/b> and bilateral exceptions<\/b>, putting a brake on public statements that speak of imminent agreements<\/b>. Greek diplomacy rejects scenarios of immediate progress<\/b> in discussions<\/b> on EEZ delimitation<\/b> with Albania<\/b>, stressing that there is no comprehensive consensus framework or active process<\/b> leading to an immediate conclusion<\/b>. At the same time, it recalls that the issue has in the past faced institutional obstacles within Albania<\/b>, which has basically frozen any substantial development<\/b>. At the same time, Athens is shaping a more proactive and multi-level strategy<\/b> in the wider region, using legal, diplomatic and energy tools<\/b> to strengthen its sovereign positions<\/b> and prevent disputes in the Eastern Mediterranean<\/b>. <\/p>\n
Athens is clearly distancing itself from Edi Rama’s<\/b> statements on allegedly advanced consultations<\/b> on the demarcation of an EEZ<\/b> with Greece<\/b>, refuting essentially the narrative of an imminent agreement<\/b> on a coincidence and an appeal to The Hague<\/b>.<\/p>\nThe EEZ is not on the defence priorities<\/h3>\n
A senior diplomatic source underlines that despite the fact that the issue has been on the agenda of the two countries for a long time, the process was “frozen” when the issue of the co-contract was taken to the Constitutional Court of Albania, where it was effectively annulled.<\/p>\n
The Greek Foreign Ministry said that the discussion on the demarcation comes from the past, but the issue had been referred to the Constitutional Court of Albania and there it was dropped and therefore, it is the Albanian side that must proceed with the necessary procedures to change the decision of the Constitutional Court.<\/p>\n
According to the same source, the delimitation of the EEZ with Albania is no longer among the immediate priorities of Greek diplomacy, especially after the agreements already reached with other countries in the region, such as Italy, and the extension of Greek territorial waters in the Ionian Sea.<\/p>\n
While Athens’ strategy focuses on the comprehensive settlement of bilateral issues, no one confirms at this moment that the progress mentioned by the Albanian side will be made within 2026.<\/p>\n
The Greek side stresses that there is no text on bilateral issues and pending issues to be resolved between Greece and Albania, as Rama said in his interview at the Delphi Forum.<\/p>\n
At the same time, Athens is responding calmly but clearly to the escalating rhetoric from Turkey, underlining that the Greek strategy has now been shaped on a more structured and proactive basis than in the past, with the senior diplomatic source stressing that Greece has consistently put forward its positions on the international stage, using tools and initiatives that strengthen its legal and political arguments.<\/p>\n
In this context, Maritime Spatial Planning is being promoted as a response to Turkish theories on the “Blue Homeland”, while the promotion of marine parks is part of a broader strategy to secure sovereign rights, against reports of “grey zones”. At the same time, the deepening of partnerships with large energy groups, such as Chevron, and the strengthening of contacts with Libya (the visit of George Gerapetritis to Tripoli on 27 April is expected) are interpreted as a practical response to the Turkish-Libyan memorandum, which Athens continues to characterize as legally unsubstantiated.<\/p>\n
At the same time, the strengthening of the defensive presence on the Aegean islands is seen as a self-evident exercise of sovereignty, in the face of persistent Turkish claims of demilitarization, which the Greek side categorically rejects.<\/p>\n
As for the recent tension over the fishing maps, Greek sources note that this is material that has been in existence since 2018 and was brought back into the news on the occasion of a technical posting by a competent agency. As noted, the Turkish reaction is part of Ankara’s well-known practice of using every opportunity to promote its claims.<\/p>\n
With regard to Turkey’s reactions to Greek-Israeli cooperation, Athens clarifies that its foreign policy is not under the approval of third countries. The same source stressed, however, that there has recently been an aggravation on the part of Turkey which is not constructive, while Greece will continue to work for peace, security and prosperity in the wider region.<\/p>\n
With regard to the incident with the radio harassment of the Dutch ship southeast of Crete, it was noted that the ship had received permission from Greece as it was due and as far as is known it did not ask for permission from Turkey and the important thing is that it is recognized that the authority to issue permits in these areas belongs to Greece, adding that whether permission is requested from third parties is another matter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Athens rejects Edi Rama’s claims of progress in the EEZ consultations with Albania and draws a clear diplomatic line on outstanding issues.
\nIn …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2262,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}