Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama spoke highly of Greece and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis during his pre-election speech addressed to Albanian residents in Greece on Sunday.
Rama is on a tour in Europe to speak to Albanian natives living abroad ahead of next year’s presidential elections in Albania. In his speech at a packed Galatsi municipal arena, he praised Greek-Albanian relations:
“Welcome to my second home in neighboring and friendly Greece. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for this touching hospitality. Some here in Greece were surprised. Others were upset. Someone even said that I should not come to visit you. But perhaps when they see this display of family joy they will understand that I have not come to meet their former servants, but to meet the equal masters of this house,” he said.
In light of the success of Albanian natives in Greece, he invited them to invest in their homeland.
According to official estimates, 700,000 Albanians migrated in the early 1990s, following the the dissolution of the so-called Eastern Bloc. They make up 60–65 percent of the immigrant population in Greece. According to 2023 official data, there are 285,483 legal immigrants with Albanian citizenship in Greece, while a large number have received Greek citizenship through naturalization. Thousands have also emigrated to other countries after they received Greek citizenship.
Amidst great applause and the waiving of Albanian flags, Rama stressed the history of the two neighboring nations:
“Throughout history, the streets of our homes, wars, fairy tales, our relationships have been much more connected than they appear. Even today, the appearance of our relations means much less than the reality, the intertwining of lives and the connection of the inseparable future paths between Albanians and Greeks,” he said.
Edi Rama speaks warmly of Kyriakos Mitsotakis
The Albanian president spoke warmly of the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis calling him his friend and dedicating a poem to him.
Rama said “I would also like to send a message on your behalf to my friend who was elected by the people of this country to lead Greece, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
“Dear Kyriakos, in 1864 our national poet Naim Frasheri wrote the poem “The Real Desire of the Albanians” in the Greek language: “We want to live in brotherhood, in harmony, in peace with all peoples; with the Slavs, with the Greeks. Let’s not be enemies and not argue. Enough of the suffering and tyrannies we have gone through. It’s time for prosperity, it’s time for freedom.” Many greetings from me and the Albanians of Greece. Long live Albania, long live Greece, long live democratic Europe,” he concluded amid thunderous applause.
Edi Rama did not touch on the thorny issue between the two countries, the jailing of the ethnic Greek mayor-elect of Himare, Fredi Beleri, who was charged with alleged vote buying. Athens sees the Beleri two-year sentence as a human rights violation against Albanian-Greeks.
The trial has angered Greece, which has threatened to block Albania’s EU accession talks if it does not respect Beleri’s rights. Furthermore, in April the Greek government announced that the jailed ethnic Greek politician will be a candidate for the European Parliament elections on June 9 representing the ruling New Democracy party.