Athens under EU pressure over Albania

Intense diplomatic consultations are reportedly taking place to get Greece to agree to send a letter on behalf of the European Council to Tirana so that Albania can begin negotiations on its first batch of EU accession chapters.

The relevant discussion is expected to take place at the meeting of the permanent representatives to the EU (Coreper) on Wednesday, as Albania successfully completed the first phase of its EU accession negotiations (screening process) last Friday after 14 months of consultations. It is no secret that Athens has been pressured to get on board and, in comments to Kathimerini, European diplomatic sources said that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has stated via diplomatic channels that the accession process should not be a bilateral issue. Moreover, according to a European official, the Spanish EU presidency also appears particularly annoyed with the...