Himare property rights on agenda for Brussels
New Democracy MEP Fredi Beleri says the right of ethnic Greeks to property and self-determination are non-negotiable
Fredi Beleri was released from a prison in Albania on Monday, September 2, and on Monday, September 9, is expected in Brussels, where he will serve as a member of the European Parliament after being elected on the ticket of Greece’s governing New Democracy in June.
The mayor-elect of the predominantly ethnic Greek Albanian city of Himare was blamed shortly before the local elections there in May 2023 for the actions of an associate who attempted to buy seven votes for a total of 350 euros. He was remanded in pretrial custody despite scant evidence and was prevented on several occasions from taking his oath as mayor. The only leave from prison he was granted by the Albanian authorities was to travel to Strasbourg to accept his new office, which was given to him by the people of Greece with 245,874 votes, making him ND’s fourth most popular candidate.
In this interview with Kathimerini, Beleri talks about the tension between him and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, as well as the initiatives he plans to take in the European Parliament.
How was prison? How were you treated by the prison workers?
I was treated well; very well, actually. They treated me with respect and gave me certain special privileges, such as five visits a month instead of four. I don’t know if they did this of their own accord or had orders from above.
So, you have no complaints about the Albanian authorities, in this area at least?
In this area, no. But, of course, they never granted me leave so I could be sworn in as mayor and they delayed the report for my release after having served the required two thirds of my sentence by a month and a half. They didn’t want me out before the recent municipal elections in Himare.
Why weren’t Athens’ efforts to secure your early release successful?
I believe that Mr Rama has invested in this entire affair to show Albanian nationalists that he took a firm line with Greece and won’t be intimidated by anyone. Nationalism “sells” well in Albania. This was, in fact, the purpose of his trip to Athens [in May]: to show the Greek government that he has clout, that he can instrumentalize the Albanian migrants in Greece and cause problems. He didn’t accomplish this, but that was his goal.
Is it true that you told Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis back in 2022 that you shouldn’t run as mayor of Himare and that a more broadly accepted candidate should be put forward instead?
Yes, six months before the May 2023 elections, I said to Mitsotakis: “President, it won’t work for you to have Rama as a friend and me to have him as a rival. Wouldn’t it be better to find a candidate mayor who is acceptable to everyone?” I was prepared to back out [of the race].
But Mitsotakis refused?
Mitsotakis discussed it with Rama, and Rama said, “I’m fine with that; let Beleri run.” He was sure [his candidate] would beat me, so he didn’t want someone he’d have to share.
You have stated your intention to take recourse to the European Court of Human Rights about the Albanian authorities’ decisions concerning your incarceration. What do you hope to accomplish?
I can’t just let it go; I demand justice, even belatedly. As you know, the European Court takes a long time to hear a case and issue a judgment. There are two additional levels in the Albanian justice system, the Supreme and the Constitutional courts. I will go to Strasbourg once the process is over. What I want is for them to never dare to do the same thing to another person.
What did the other MEPs have to say to you when you first went to Strasbourg as a “newbie”? What did your fellow New Democracy MEP, Vangelis Meimarakis, say?
Meimarakis was the warmest with me, but all the Greek MEPs, from all the parties, were very welcoming and eager to help me and offer advice.
Will you be opening an office in Himare?
I’m an MEP for Greece, so my offices will be in Athens, Ioannina and Brussels.
What is your agenda?
I don’t have an agenda of my own. I am an MEP for the Hellenic Republic, for New Democracy and for the European People’s Party (EPP) – that’s my reference framework. I sit on four European Parliament committees and will do everything I can, along with my associates, to defend the national interests.
Are key minority issues not on your docket?
As a member of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights I will be involved in the issue of violations of the rights of the ethnic Greek minority in Albania so I can also help the Albanians become fully fledged members of the European family, which is something that requires it to uphold the European acquis. A European Albania needs to ensure that we will be treated as equals in the places where we were born and raised. I will likely also be a part of the delegation dealing with the European Union-Albania connection.
Are you prepared to have contacts with the government in Tirana?
Of course; I won’t act according to my whims. I have always spoken to everyone. I never had a problem with anyone. What was done to me was a gross injustice and dishonor. They prevented me from taking my oath of office and assuming my duties. But this will not stop me from being as objective as possible and promoting good relations.
Nevertheless, many in Albania accuse you of being a nationalist, of representing the extreme Greek side, partly as a result of your arrest in 1995 in Greece, near the border with Albania, with weapons in your car. Do you think that you can convince these people that you’re a moderate?
I was 22 years old at the time; it was 30 years ago. The case has been through every level of the Greek justice system and has been tried another three times in Albania, and I was exonerated in every single one of those processes. I don’t know what kind of legal culture allows us to continue referring to an incident from 1995 when a career of 30 years has since gone by.
Are you planning to bring up the issue of property rights in Himare while serving in Brussels?
Of course. Ownership is a fundamental human right, it’s at the core of human rights. Without property there can be no growth, nothing.
You are in possession of a 2011 study funded by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which charts more than 2,000 property titles in Himare. Why haven’t you gone public with it? Do you plan to submit to the European Parliament?
It’s not a secret report. The OSCE sent it to foreign embassies, to the Greek state and to Himare City Hall. I actually got it from city hall. It’s a public document. And of course I will be submitting it to the European Parliament. I’m also thinking about submitting it to Albania’s special prosecutor for corruption, SPAK, where there is said to be a genuine drive for combating corruption. So, this report clearly shows that the majority of land titles are forgeries.
Are you saying that the report presents a valid map of who owns what, with evidence, while another map is currently being drawn based on forgery?
Precisely. That’s the common secret: that the forgery took place.
There are rumors that investments are going ahead in Himare, that new buildings keep appearing. Is there any truth in them?
There is. Ten licenses were issued just last month and none concerns property owned by a local. These are investors brought in from other areas.
Tirana has claimed that you are in the vanguard of a Greek drive to gain control of Albania’s southern coast so that, in combination with Corfu across the way, Greece will have an area of control in Albania. How do you respond?
The claim that I am some kind of Trojan horse in a Greek tourism strategy is simply ridiculous. It’s a nice pretext on which to build a nationalist narrative. You will not find a single euro of Greek investment in Himare or on the coastal front, where the Greek minority resides. I am not happy about this, but it is the truth – and it’s not exactly flattering to us Greeks either.
It appears that the Himare issue will remain a thorn in Greek-Albanian relations.
There are two things that are non-negotiable: our right to the property of our forebears and our right to self-determination.
Is there an issue of self-determination?
Haven’t you heard of the census scandal? Omonoia [the Democratic Union of the Greek Minority party] had declared a boycott of the 2011 census, which estimated us at around 26,000. In the latest census, which we didn’t boycott, our number is [estimated] at less than 25,000. I would say that there are around 40,000 ethnic Greeks in Albania and, based on the law, we could have also included those who live outside of Albania. For example, almost 250,000 are in Greece.
And they could have been included in the Albanian census?
Of course. Say I live in Himare, but have my wife and children in Athens. I have the right to count them as part of my household. Nevertheless, our [estimated] number came to below 25,000. How does that make any sense.
How many Greeks live in Himare today, based on the census?
There are 30,000 people registered at Himare’s records office and 8,000 of them appear in the census. We’ll find out how many of them are Greek and how many are Albanian in November. Even though the census ended last November, the data for each region have not been announced yet.
Why the delay?
Right? Why the delay? The data don’t need any processing. They’re ready. But they’ve only announced the total population, which officially shrank by around 440,000 compared with 2011. I believe the real number is probably in the region of a million and I say this because it’s impossible to find workers. We have a massive labor shortage, which is why the monthly salary last year was 400 euros and now it’s 1,000 euros.
Vangjel Tavo, an ethnic Greek, ended up being elected mayor of Himare. You had supported his rival. Why can’t Tavo achieve the consensus needed to address the problem?
If that’s what they wanted, they should have called and suggested that Tavo be the consensual candidate, but they didn’t. Rama decided suddenly one morning that Tavo was the good Greek and we at Omonoia are the bad Greeks.
Are you saying that there’s division inside the Greek community? That Greeks cannot be united even in Albania?
We’re not united anywhere in the world. What kind of Greeks would we be if we were united?
I agree with you!
Look, Mr Tavo is a political roamer. He has done a stint in every Albanian political party, he will go anywhere when it is in his own personal interest. I had never publicly lambasted Rama until my arrest. Tavo has accused him of being a thief and of buying votes against him. And that he took his seat away in 2022 in Gjirokaster.
Yes, but Tavo says that all this is in his favor because it proves that he’s not beholden to any one party.
When is Tavo telling the truth? When he accused Rama of illegal activities and of snatching his seat or now that he’s with him? The things I have to say about Rama are nothing compared to what Tavo has said about him.
