Brussels, 07/04/2003 (Agence Europe) - On invitation by Nea Demokratia MEP Konstantinos Hatzidakis, a delegation representing Albania's Greek minority held meetings with a European Commission representative last week, described as "positive" by the Greek representatives, who had informed the Commission about the situation facing minorities in Albania.
While welcoming the Annual Report on South-East Europe adopted last week by the Commission (see Europe of 28 March, p.13), the delegation said there were certain gaps in it. They said there were more restrictions on the civil and policy rights of minorities in general, and the Greek minority in particular, than outlined in the report (ban on using their own language in official institutions, Greek minority members being excluded from public bodies, insufficient educational resources, the Albanian government's rejection of requests to open schools, etc). Moreover, the delegation challenges the Albanian government's estimate of the size of the Greek minority (50,000 as opposed to the delegations' 350,000). Albanian parliamentarian Grigorios Karamelos said the absence of accurate figures was "blocking" the channelling of aid foreseen in the EU's programme, which is why the Greek minority is calling for an independent census to be organised.
Some of these points are taken up in the Commission's report, which notes that although Albania has a broadly positive attitude to its minorities, little progress has been made over the past twelve months… Minority rights are not always sufficiently protected throughout the country particularly in terms of legislation, property rights and access to all levels of the civil service. The 2002 report uses the Albanian government's figures on the size of the Greek minority (50,000) but the 2003 report does not contain any figures. The Commission is awaiting the outcome of government research into the size of Albania's minorities, publication of which had been expected for the end of February 2003. The Commission adds that Albania must not rest on its laurels in terms of protecting minorities but must meet international standards in this connection.