Former Greek Foreign Minister Georgios Katrougalos from the leftist SYRIZA party warned that the current conservative Mitsotakis Government is working to lump Macedonia and Albania together with regard to their EU accession talks.

Greek officials made several contradictory statements recently – the country officially supports the opening of EU accession talks with Macedonia, after decades of blocking them, but at the same time Mitsotakis announced a new veto – his opposition to opening talks with Albania until the country improves rights for its Greek minority. And finally, Athens announced that it wants to see the accession talks open for both countries at the same time, implying that Macedonia would also face delays, along with Albania.

It seems that the Government wants to join the cases of Macedonia and Albania with regard to their integration. But we have different issues with Albania, we need to protect our minority, and how can we connect these two things?, Katrougalos said.

It is likely that Albania will face additional scrutiny from EU member states. Over the summer, before the major corruption scandal in Macedonia, it was seen that lumping the two countries together will be unfair to Macedonia as Albania’s chances to open accession talks are much lower. France is seen as the main opponent for both accession talk requests, and Albania faces the added opposition from the Netherlands.