The President of Ilir Meta has reacted after the statement of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece, Nikos Dendias, made a few days ago in Tirana, regarding the issue of the sea.
During his visit to Albania, Dendias stated that President Ilir Meta did not agree to take the sea issue to The Hague.
But President Meta responded today that there was no will from Prime Minister Edi Rama on this issue, adding that the Assembly must take a stand and express itself.
"On May 23, the Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dendias, paid an official visit to Albania, meeting with the Albanian Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Prime Minister. I want to clarify that the Greek side or our Foreign Ministry has not requested any meeting of Minister Dendias with the President. After closing his visit to Tirana, Dendias said that “it was agreed to take the sea issue to The Hague. This did not happen because the President did not give his consent. "This will be feasible when Albania elects a new President."
I want to clarify that the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ditmir Bushati, has submitted a request for the start of negotiations with Greece to limit their maritime zones. The President noted a number of issues that needed to be addressed in this request. Following additional information from the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the President authorized the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Albania to issue the plenipotentiary to the Albanian negotiating team for the negotiation of the agreement between Albania and Greece. Only the president is authorized to dialogue with the Greek side 3 rounds of negotiations have taken place. The President, after being informed, was informed of some serious problems and concerns.
A meeting was held to discuss the progress of the negotiation process, in which it was agreed that the Prime Minister would personally lead the negotiations with the Greek state. He would submit a request to the president for this.
The President noted that the Prime Minister was not adhering to the commitments and was not taking any steps, reiterated the intervention of the Prime Minister without delay and that these negotiations be led by the highest level. No authorization request was submitted. In the absence of will, the president, standing by the previous findings, re-asked the Prime Minister for his intervention so that the negotiations would be led from the highest level, taking the lead in this process ".
Meta also clarified that "the issue of maritime areas is open and must be resolved once and for all in accordance with the constitution and international law in the full interest of preserving territorial integrity."