Speaking at a press conference, Berisha said the deal reached before 2013 had served Albania’s interests and should have proceeded to international arbitration after it was overturned by the Constitutional Court.

Berisha said Greece had agreed for the dispute to be reviewed on the basis of the existing agreement at a time when Athens recognized only six nautical miles of territorial waters. Reopening negotiations, he said, later allowed Greece to expand its claim to 12 nautical miles.

“We support good-neighbourly relations and cooperation with the Hellenic Republic and other neighbouring countries,” Berisha said. “The issue that Mr. Dendias appears to be bringing is the maritime agreement. I have stressed repeatedly that Edi Rama, acting in the interests of third parties, did everything possible to sabotage the agreement reached with Greece before 2013.”

Berisha said the Constitutional Court had annulled the deal “in complete contradiction with Albania’s national interest”, prompting Greece to seek renewed negotiations.

“We agreed to take the agreement to The Hague,” he said. “Albania’s advantage at the time was that Greece had negotiated the deal while recognizing only six nautical miles of territorial waters for itself. Under the Law of the Sea, Greece could at any point have extended that to 12 miles.”

He said international experts who reviewed the agreement after it was overturned had concluded that the deal could have been improved marginally if reassessed, but warned that any Greek move to declare 12 nautical miles would fundamentally alter the balance against Albania.

According to Berisha, Greek authorities – drawing on extensive experience in maritime boundary issues – had initially agreed to proceed within the framework of the original deal without reasserting a 12-mile claim.

“If we had moved forward under that framework agreement, the rules could no longer have been changed midway through the process,” he said.

Berisha said subsequent negotiations between the Albanian government and Greece failed to produce a deal, while an attempt to sign an agreement in the southeastern city of Korça collapsed because of institutional objections and a Constitutional Court ruling requiring the proportionality principle to be applied in defining maritime boundaries.

Following the breakdown in talks, Greece moved to renew its claim to 12 nautical miles in territorial waters, Berisha said, describing the development as a direct consequence of the Albanian government’s handling of the issue.

“The Greek side left Korça and two or three months later announced its renewed claim to 12 nautical miles in its territorial waters,” he said.

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