The presence of a real possibility of signing a co-borrower who will send it EEZ demarcation between Hellas as well as Albania in International Court of Justice of The Hague The Secretary of State is investigating Nikos Dendias at a meeting he will hold in Athens with his colleague Olta Tsakas. The outcome of today’s meeting will largely determine the outcome that the Prime Minister’s visit may have towards resolving the dispute. Kyriakou Mitsotakis next week in Albania, where, among other things, he is expected to meet with his colleague Edie Rama. It is recalled that Mr. Mitsotakis and Mr. Rama met again (for example, on the sidelines of the NATO meeting in June 21, and also later on other occasions) when the Albanian leader agreed on the need to keep the promise. . It is worth noting that since then there has not been a single meeting at the technical level to conduct processes in this direction.

The central issue in the demarcation remains the influence of the islands of Erikussa and Oton, since the Albanian side does not accept the beginning of the midline and the full influence of these islands. However, Greece wishes to close the initiated settlement of maritime zones with all neighboring countries (except Turkey), especially after the recent Agreement between Turkey and Libya which revitalizes discussions about continental shelves in the region.

For the transfer of the EEZ delimitation to The Hague, the meeting of N. Dendias with his colleague Olta Tsaka is of decisive importance.

Greece and Albania had already agreed to an EEZ settlement in 2009, but it was never implemented as Albania did not ratify it and the country’s Constitutional Court overturned it. An important factor was Turkey, which used its influence in Albania to derail the agreement, depriving Athens of both a diplomatic victory and a rapprochement with Tirana. The current Albanian prime minister, Edi Rama, as the official leader of the opposition at the time, was the one who derailed the 2009 EEZ agreement – the year his country formally joined NATO – with his legal action.

Since then, successive Greek governments have tried to reach a positive settlement of disputes, but so far no solution has been found. Rama himself has taken a more flexible stance lately as Albania seeks EU membership and seeks to play a more active role in NATO planning. At the same time, however, Rama continues to maintain good relations with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who clearly does not want another international settlement for Greece. In addition, more than once in relations between Greece and Albania, the shadow of Turkey is still visible.