The governments of Greece and Albania have agreed upon restarting negotiations regarding the delimitation of the EEZs using the Hague Tribunal as a safeguard in the case that they cannot reach agreement between them.
If we recall what happened back in 2009 and how the agreement was rejected by the Supreme Court of Albania, as it was considered unconstitutional, we realize that we have a phase change, especially after the EEZ delimitation Agreement which we signed and ratified in 2020.
We could have firstly accepted an intervention of a third country as was proposed by Albania, but this did not make any sense at the Law of the Sea level.
Secondly, we could go immediately and directly to the International Court of Justice, but it would have make no sense without any initial negotiations between the two countries.
We therefore chose a third approach.
Firstly, we will have two years of a negotiation period.
Note here that the parliamentary elections in Albania will take place in June of 2021.
Thereafter, if no agreement occurs, then we will have another year in order to sign an agreement before the Hague Tribunal.
Greece ratified the Law of the Sea in 1995 and Albania in 2003. Consequently the procedural context is quite clear.