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| Nikos Dendias and Edi Rama at the premises of the Prime Ministry |
"I can say with great pleasure that we have agreed to address this issue in international instances. We will turn to international justice to decide based on expertise and international law of the sea", announced Prime Minister Rama.
For the Greek Foreign Minister, "the solution will be beneficial for both countries. I have heard with great interest the agreement of Mr. Rama that the solution will be based on the UN Convention, which both countries have signed, and I am very happy that we have agreed to take this issue together to the Court of The Hague", declared on his part Minister Dendias.
The idea of a solution through an international arbitrator was publicly mooted by the Albanian prime minister during a visit to Athens in September. For many years, the issue of maritime borders between the two countries remained unresolved, since the agreement reached in 2009 between the then governments of the two countries was overturned by the Albanian Constitutional Court, which considered it a violation of the international constitution and norms as regulators of maritime affairs.
The decision was not swallowed up by Athens, which for a long time insisted on returning to that agreement. But in 2017 the parties agreed to resume talks, as part of a package of issues that the two countries would have to resolve between them. Talks broke down, with the change of governments and the coming to power of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Now both governments have reiterated their commitment to resolving all outstanding issues. Even today's decision, according to the Greek minister "is based on the position of both countries to resolve any divergence we may have."
"This issue will be at the discretion of international justice and we will focus on economic, regional cooperation, the people and do the best for the citizens", said Mr. Rama, announcing that for another sensitive topic, that of the law of war, which Greece still formally maintains in force towards Albania "there is a very positive discussion and soon I am very confident that the abolition of the law of war will end in a positive way". On his part, the Greek minister described the law of war "an anachronism and I am sure we will solve it together and I am pleased to say this from Tirana," said Mr. Dendias.
The Greek Foreign Minister also met in the afternoon with the opposition leader Lulzim Basha and President Ilir Meta. On his part, Mr. Basha announced that “during the conversation, we underlined the need to resolve outstanding issues in the spirit of mutual understanding and respect and to intensify bilateral cooperation in all areas, including facilities for Albanians living and working in Greece."
The visit of the Greek Minister was accompanied by protests organized by the Party for Justice, Integration and Unity, and the association Chameria, where there were tensions between the demonstrators and the police, in front of the Foreign Ministry. "What is happening is a real shame for Rama. We wanted to protest and show the minister, what Rama has no intention of showing, to lift the law of war, that Albania does not have 12 miles to give to Greece and that they can not ignore the genocide of Chameria", stated the chairman of PDIU Shpëtim Idrizi.
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| Shpëtim Idrizi at the protest in Tirana while Nikos Dendias and Edi Rama discussing in the office of the latter |
Some of the demonstrators were escorted to police stations. The police later informed that 18 people, among them 3 organizers of the protest, were prosecuted for the criminal offenses "Organizing and participating in illegal gatherings and demonstrations" and "Disobeying the order of a police officer". While some others have received fines for not using masks.