The European Parliament rejected the proposal of Greek MEP Nikos Marias and European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) to discuss on Monday the issue of the incident in Bularat, where the 35-year-old Greek Kostandinos Kacifas is killed by Albanian Police, and in this framewor to talk about the rights of the Greek minority in Albania.
Against this proposal voted also also the MEPs of the European People's Party, where was present their leader, Manfred Weber; European Socialists, Liberals, Greens; while most of the European Leftists, including Speaker Gabriela Zimmer, abstained. The vote was 48 votes in favor of the proposal, 208 against and 20 abstentions.In his speech, Notis Marias, the chairman of the Party "Greece - The Other Way" and the Euro Deputies, noted that Kostandinos Kacifas was executed by Albanian police in the framework of a cleansing operation on Greece's national anniversary day on October 28, an act that according to him is supported politically by the Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.
He added that the Albanian authorities refused in an illegall way for 10 days to let his body buried by relatives, adding that in his funeral is exercised terror by Albanian Police.
Concluding, Greek MEP stressed that pressure on the national minority in Northern Epirus is continuous and systematic, and Albanian authorities destroy churches, Greek homes and engage in violent expropriations.
Apart from the fact that the majority of MEPs voted against his proposal, another characteristic of this session was the fact that out of the 27 MEPs representing Greece and Cyprus, only 10 voted.
Of them voted eight MEPs, including Eleni Theocharous, who is declared by the Albanian authorities non grata person, while two voted against. 17 others were not in the hall at all.