Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias has stated that his country wants to settle the issue of maritime delimitation with Albania “as soon as possible”.
In an interview for the daily Eleftheros Typos on Saturday, Dendias reiterated Athens’ focus on an agreement with Albania, following those with Italy and Egypt.
He said Greece aims to delimitate the continental shelf and the exclusive economic zones (EEZ) with all neighbors according to the international law.
“We want to resolve this backlog with Albania as soon as possible. As I recently stated in Parliament, in the debate on the ratification of the maritime demarcation agreements with Italy and Egypt, I hope the next step will be the signing of an agreement with Albania,” Dendias said.
The two governments signed the Agreement for the Delimitation of the Greek-Albanian Continental Shelf and Maritime Zones in 2009.
However, it was not implemented after the Albanian Constitutional Court nullified it due to violations of the Constitution and territorial integrity.
The main issue resulting in the Court’s decision was the status of some rocky, uninhabited Greek islands without economic life very close to the Albanian shore, which the 2009 agreement considered as Greek land in full effect.
In 2018, negotiations between the two countries resumed but then the Greek government changed soon and negotiations stalled.
In August, the Greek minister and prime minister brought the topic back to public attention.
Dendias noted in his interview on Saturday that it’s important for Albania, “in the context of its European perspective”, that the two countries restart talks soon.
