Can the Beleris case affect Greek-German relations?

The candidacy of the mayor of Heimarra, imprisoned in Albania, Freddy Beleris, on the ND ballot is one of the most important features of the European elections. “It obviously has a very heavy symbolism, which I think everyone, who is really interested and not in words about the rights of the Greek ethnic minority in Albania, understands,” Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in Brussels last week.

The Prime Minister meant the respect that a candidate for EU membership, such as Albania, must show to the rules of the rule of law. Addressed to the domestic audience, the choice of the Beleris candidacy was made to stop the leakage of ND voters to the far-right populist parties. But it does not reach, to the extent that the Prime Minister would like, the European audience.

The Beleris case may be known in the mechanisms of Brussels, but in the public opinion of other member countries, Germany for example, the name Beleris is completely unknown. To what extent will this case determine Albania’s accession course? “The only determining factor for the accession process and Albania’s accession to the EU is the fulfillment of the accession criteria, including the adoption of the acquis communautaire. It is important that this is also the measure that all member states apply when they make decisions on individual steps in the accession process,” the German Foreign Ministry replied.

Distance between Athens and Berlin

Can the Beleris case negatively affect Greek-German relations?

“The relations between Greece and Germany are close and they are relations of trust. As an EU partner and NATO ally, we maintain an excellent bilateral relationship,” was the response of the German Foreign Ministry to “NEWS”. Too general to cover the clear gap between Berlin and Athens in the case of Albania on the occasion of the Beleri case.

Greece and Germany are among the supporters of the attachment of the Western Balkans to the EU. Germany is particularly keen to promote the accession process of the six candidate countries. For Scholz and the German government, EU membership is the biggest barrier to Russia and China’s penetration of the Western Balkans. With Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine, Berlin’s main goal is to speed up the accession negotiations, to fill the geostrategic gap between Greece and Croatia and to prevent the Western Balkans from becoming a backdoor to Russian influence in Europe.

The Beleri case has another weak point for the Greek side. “The battle I am fighting is not personal… It is a battle for the most suffering and wronged part of Hellenism, the Greek minority of Albania. My brothers and sisters who, after decades of oppression, want and are entitled to live freely and peacefully, without fear, in a place that respects their rights, honor and property,” Beleris said in his candidacy message. However, few people in Europe are aware of the existence of a Greek minority in Albania, let alone the problems of deprivation of minority rights. That is why their appeal now in the Beleris case is strange.