Olaf Scholz against Greece's blockade of Albania

2023-11-14 17:11:00, Aktualitet CNA

Olaf Scholz against Greece's blockade of Albania

Scholz tells Mitzotakis: Bilateral issues should not be confused with the enlargement process

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz railed on Tuesday, 14.11.2023, in Berlin against the bilateralization of the EU enlargement process. Scholz said this in response to a question about the recent disputes between Greece and Cyprus, during the press conference with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitotaqis. The Social Democratic Chancellor emphasized that in all the disputes between the countries of the region, Berlin is "on the side of the EU membership process, because it wants the candidates for membership to reach it as soon as possible". Scholz said that it is necessary to move towards the further rapprochement of the countries of the Western Balkans, which were given the award for membership exactly 20 years ago at the 2003 Thessaloniki Summit.

The European Commission has recommended the start of talks on the three group-chapters until the end of 2023. These chapters are among the most important as they deal with democracy, the functioning of democratic institutions and public prosecutions. For the talks to open, the unanimous support of the 27 countries in the European Council of the EU member states is needed. On November 11, Greece decided not to join other EU member states in fulfilling the European Commission's request to the European Council for the opening of negotiations for the first three group-chapters. The reason for this is the fact that the elected mayor of Himara Municipality, Fredi Beleri, is still in prison. The 52-year-old was arrested two days before the local elections on May 14, 2023 and is accused of buying and selling votes. The Greek authorities considered Fredi Beleri's arrest and imprisonment a "violation of the rule of law, violation of civil rights, disrespect for political rights."

Olaf Scholz against Greece's blockade of Albania

The two European leaders had met the day before in a small working group, with various leaders of several EU countries, such as Hungary, Cyprus, Slovakia, at a dinner given on Monday evening by the president of the Council of EU's Charles Michel in Berlin. The aim of the dinner was to reach an agreement between the countries on a number of issues related to the future of the EU.

Mitsotakis and Scholz reiterated their position on Tuesday that, with the retaliatory attacks in Gaza, Israel is exercising its right to self-defense, and assured that Tel Aviv is "committed to international law and acts in accordance with it." Both leaders were against a cessation of hostilities, but called for humanitarian pauses. "It cannot be accepted that a situation is created in which Hamas has the opportunity to recover, stockpile weapons and attack Israel again," German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said.

The two leaders will meet separately this week with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who recently described the bombings in Gaza as "fascist." German Chancellor Olaf Scholz avoided direct criticism of Erdogan, who is expected to visit Berlin on Friday, November 17, 2023. But he stressed that Israel is undoubtedly a democratic country and that it acts in accordance with international law. "The accusations against Israel are absurd," said Social Democrat Scholz.

Scholz spoke about humanitarian pauses in Gaza, to allow the entry of humanitarian aid, the departure of foreigners trapped in the Gaza Strip and the medical treatment of the wounded. Conservative Mitsotakis, for his part, noted that Israel's right to self-defense must be accommodated "in any case" within the laws of war and international and humanitarian law. Both leaders reiterated the idea that the only solution is that of two states, Israel and Palestine./ DW