Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Dendias’ statement following his meeting with Kosovar Minister of Foreign Affairs, Donika Gërvalla-Schwarz (20.01.2022)

Dear Donika,

It is my great pleasure to welcome you today in Athens, following my visit to Pristina last June. We also met in December in Brussels, during the working breakfast organized in the framework of the Chairmanship-in-office of the South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP).

It is an initiative that we fully support. It aims at seeking a better future for the whole region.

Our regular contacts over the past year indicate the willingness of the Greek government, of the Mitsotakis government, to strengthen relations between Athens and Pristina.

To this end, your Office here in Athens was upgraded last May and was renamed to “The Office of Ιnterests of Kosovo in Athens”.

And we hope that these steps will help strengthen our economic and trade ties. Our economic relations, our trade relations, although they are by no means negligible, offer great scope for improvement, since they also suffered a blow due to the pandemic.

We hope that the 5th Economic Forum will be able to take place in Athens in March, if health conditions allow it.

Today, we also discussed energy cooperation. Our desire is for the Western Balkans to be connected, as you know, to TAP via gas interconnectors.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has announced that de-lignification constitutes an immediate priority of our government and our goal is to complete it by 2028.

In this context, we would also be very happy to discuss providing know-how to you, as well as assistance regarding investments in renewable energy sources.

There is also significant scope for improvement in the fields of education, higher education, tourism, digitization, where the Greek government is making a great effort, but also in culture.
One area that requires special attention is the protection of our cultural heritage, our shared cultural heritage. Due to our history, we have great expertise in this field and there is huge untapped potential. As we said in our meeting, we have a great deal of know-how regarding the preservation of Christian religious monuments.

Today, we also discussed the European perspective of the Western Balkans. I reiterated Greece’s firm commitment to the integration of the Western Balkans where they belong, to our European family, emphasizing our firm position for convening the first intergovernmental conferences with Albania and North Macedonia.

I publicly reiterate our position in favour of visa liberalization for you, since you have fulfilled the benchmarks set out in the roadmap. Therefore, since you have fulfilled the criteria, the promise to you should also be fulfilled.

I would also like to tell you that we have taken very good note of the efforts you are making in the fields of the rule of law, public administration, the fight against corruption and organized crime. We are well aware that these are not easy steps.

Greece assists in this effort and also values the work provided by “EULEX Kosovo”, in which several Greek officials serve.

Finally, I should not fail to mention the Greek presence in NATO’s longest-standing operation, KFOR. Our intention, Greece’s intention, is to continue supporting it in order to fulfill its mandate in a fair, impartial and effective way. Any modification should be conditions’-based and not calendar driven.

Today, however, we also discussed the particularly worrying developments in the broader region of the Western Balkans. I expressed both Greece’s and the European Union’s concern about the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The rise of nationalism and the risk of destabilization of a very fragile situation seem to be threatening our region again.

This will be the main issue on the agenda in tomorrow’s meeting with my Croatian counterpart, my friend Gordan Radman. And, of course, it will arise during the Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ visit to Belgrade next week, where I will accompany him, as well as during his upcoming discussion with the Prime Minister of Croatia, Mr. Plenkoviç.

We should create the conditions necessary to consolidate stability in the region of the Western Balkans.

As you are well aware, Greece follows a constructive approach with regard to Kosovo, in line with the EU “status-neutral” approach.

I wish to urge all parties involved in the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue to demonstrate a constructive stance. The ultimate goal is to intensify our efforts in order to reach a legally binding and viable solution, a solution that will consolidate stability in the wider region, a solution that will send a message of optimism that we all so desperately need and give a major impetus to the European path of the region.

In this regard, Greece supports the efforts of the EU Special Representative, Miroslav Lajčák, with whom I expect to meet on Monday in Brussels and have a frank and open discussion.
I would like to thank Donika for the trust she shows in our ability to be an honest interlocutor and to help.

Concluding, I want to emphasize, that Greece will always assist in efforts to build bridges of cooperation and peaceful settlement of disputes in the region, with the ultimate goal, our common ultimate goal being a better European future for all.

We, Greece, being the first country of the Balkan Peninsula to join the European family four decades ago, feel that we have a major moral duty, my dear Donika, to help the whole region be part of the European process.

Our view is that the Western Balkans should look ahead to the future, not the past. The Western Balkans, all the countries of the Western Balkans, should have good relations with all the countries of our wider region, not just the Balkans.

But their perspective, the perspective that from our point of view, constitutes the only way forward for them, is the European one. For the Western Balkans, the European acquis, that is, the safeguarding of the principles and values of the Enlightenment – democracy, the rule of law, the protection of human rights – is our political, economic and cultural compass.

Going back to the 19th century is not an option. A neo-Ottomanism that seems to appear in our wider region is not an option.

With these words, my dear Donika, allow me to welcome you back to Athens, to thank you for your presence here today and I hope to see you again soon.

Thank you very much.