{"id":53340,"date":"2025-11-13T14:48:47","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T11:48:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/?p=53340"},"modified":"2025-11-13T14:48:47","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T11:48:47","slug":"athina-kai-tirana-apo-tin-krisi-sti-stadiaki-apoklimakosi-ton-entaseon-i-optiki-ton-alvanikon-meson-enimerosis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/athens-and-tirana-from-crisis-to-the-gradual-de-escalation-of-tensions-the-perspective-of-the-albanian-media\/","title":{"rendered":"Athens and Tirana: From Crisis to the Gradual De-Escalation of Tensions &#8211; The perspective of the Albanian media"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"the-content\"><p>In this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/6o-ALGREE-MORE.pdf\">issue<\/a> of <strong>MORE<\/strong>, the focus is on Greek\u2013Albanian relations between <strong>March and October 2024<\/strong>, shaped by the Fredi Beleris case\u2014a local legal dispute that evolved into a major diplomatic and media controversy. Beleris, mayor-elect of Himara, was convicted for electoral corruption but later elected to the European Parliament for Greece\u2019s New Democracy party, intensifying tensions over democracy, minority rights, and judicial independence.<\/p>\n<p>In Albania, pro-government media framed his conviction as proof of judicial reform, while opposition outlets denounced it as political persecution. In Greece, coverage was overwhelmingly sympathetic, portraying Beleris as a political prisoner. Widespread misinformation\u2014including fake stories and manipulated images\u2014deepened mistrust and polarization.<\/p>\n<p>Tensions peaked during Beleris\u2019s October 2024 visit to Tirana as an MEP, marked by protests and symbolic confrontation. Yet, by late 2024, relations began to improve, aided by Albania\u2019s post-election pro-EU stance and significant progress in EU accession, with five of six negotiation clusters opened.<\/p>\n<p>Covering the period from March to October 2024, MORE 6 shows how one legal case exposed the fragility of regional trust, but also how diplomatic pragmatism and the shared goal of European integration can turn confrontation into cooperation.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>Media Observatory Reports<\/strong> are part of the broader \u201c<strong>ALGREE \u2013 Albania\u2013Greece: Understanding. Connecting. Partnering<\/strong>\u201d project, implemented by the <strong>South-East Europe Programme<\/strong> of the <strong>Hellenic Foundation for Foreign &amp; European Policy (ELIAMEP)<\/strong> with support from <strong>the Open Society Foundations &#8211; Western Balkans <\/strong>and the <strong>Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom Greece and Cyprus<\/strong>. Based on systematic monitoring of leading Albanian and Greek media, the reports examine how each country portrays the other and how media narratives shape mutual perceptions and shared regional agendas.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In this issue of MORE, the focus is on Greek\u2013Albanian relations between March and October 2024, shaped by the Fredi Beleris case\u2014a local legal dispute that evolved into a major diplomatic and media controversy. Beleris, mayor-elect of Himara, was convicted for electoral corruption but later elected to the European Parliament for Greece\u2019s New Democracy party, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":53341,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[492],"tags":[],"program":[23],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53340"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53340"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53340\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53343,"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53340\/revisions\/53343"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53340"},{"taxonomy":"program","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program?post=53340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}