Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said that Greece supports the EU integration of Macedonia and Albania, but provided the two countries accomplish their obligations.

Dendias met with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas who, coming from the social-democratic party SPD, wants to see the two SPD Balkan governments rewarded. Greece is expected to allow the opening of EU accession talks for Macedonia, but announced it will veto Albania, citing poor treatment of ethnic Greeks in Albania.

My country is the oldest EU member state in south east Europe and we’ve always suported the European perspective of our neighbors, of course, on the pre-condition that they meet the criteria and respect the rules which applied to all of us, Dendias said.

During the meeting, Dendias also turned to Maas for help with the migrant crisis, saying that the numbers of migrant arrivals on the Greek islands are again becoming “alarming”.