Katrougalos: It seems that Athens wants to make the cases of North Macedonia and Albania a package
It seems that Athens wants to make the cases of North Macedonia and Albania a package with respect to accession policies, Greece’s former foreign minister and now Syriza MP Georgios Katrougalos said in an interview with ANA-MPA’s radio station Praktoreio FM.
“But in Albania we also have other issues, we need the protection of our minority. So how can all these things become one package? Therefore, we want more seriousness, and above all no hypocrisy, no doublespeak in our foreign policy,” Katrougalos said, adding it was not possible that the Greek news agency referred to the neighboring country as ‘North Macedonia’ in an article in English, whereas use no name in the article in Greek.
Commenting on the Greek PM’s meetings in New York, Katrougalos said his party was worried because there seemed to be “a phenomenon of ‘doublespeak’ in Greek foreign policy and sometimes a lack of preparation,” MIA’s Athens correspondent reports.
Regarding the meeting between Mitsotakis and Erdogan, the former FM said the fact that the meeting had been arranged was positive, but concerns remained on whether the Greek PM mentioned the problem of Turkey’s provocations in the Aegean Sea and against Cyprus.
In addition, Katrougalos mentioned the meeting between Mitsotakis and the President of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi, saying that “for the first time, a Greek PM had met with a high official from Kosovo.”
“Greece doesn’t recognize Kosovo. Are we about to change opinion in this regard? If something like that is happening, wasn’t it supposed to be explained before the meeting took place? Or, if the meeting took place without any change in our foreign policy, isn’t it a sign of a lack of preparation and seriousness?” said the former foreign minister of Greece.