Albania Court Reviews Greek Territorial Deal

Albania's constitutional court began on Tuesday a review of the legality of a territorial agreement with Greece, which delineates the continental shelf between the two countries in the Ionian Sea.

The legality of the agreement was appealed by the opposition Socialist Party which claims that the government is handing Albanian territory to its neighbour for unclear political benefits.

The court is expected to hear arguments for and against the agreement from opposition lawyers and representatives of some of the highest institutions in the country, including the President's office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defense, the Navy and others.

The agreement signed by Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha and his Greek counterpart Costas Karamanlis in late April in Tirana, created a stir of controversy in the local media which accused the Albanian government of giving 225 square kilometers of its territorial waters to its southern neighbour.

The media accused Berisha and the Ministry of Defense of not delineating the division of the continental shelf according to the equidistance principle of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, UNCLOS, on which the agreement was based, a charge which the Ministry of Defense has flatly denied.