Memorie.al / With the policy oriented toward the East, the Federal Republic of Germany had no reason not to establish official relations with communist Albania as well. The problem was the political extremism of the leaders of the Stalinist regime in Albania. The signing of German-Albanian diplomatic relations was a very important event for the communist Albania of the time, even though, compared with most Western European countries, diplomatic relations between Albania and the then West Germany were much delayed.
With the policy oriented toward the East, West Germany, that is, the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), had established diplomatic relations with the “people’s republics” of Eastern Europe, and finally, in 1972, even with the German Democratic Republic.
The main problem – the political extremism of the Stalinist regime in Albania
Having diplomatic relations with the entire communist world, the FRG had no reason not to establish official relations also with the People’s Socialist Republic of Albania.
According to Robert Elsie, who was an interpreter for two delegations from Germany and Albania for the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in the 1980s, the main problem for the delay was “the unpredictable stance of the communist regime in Albania, that is, the internal fluctuations of Albanian policy and the insistence and political extremism of the leaders of the Stalinist regime in Albania.”
“However,” adds Elsie, “we must also accept that Germany did not show any particular interest in Albania, a small country, too backward and without geopolitical or economic interest.”
The problem of reparations and compensation
A main obstacle to the establishment of relations between the People’s Socialist Republic of Albania, as the official name of the time was, was the demand of the Albanian side for the payment of reparations and compensation for war damages from the Federal Republic of Germany.
But the government of the FRG did not have freedom of action regarding this issue, because of the London Agreement concerning Germany’s foreign debt. In this agreement between the representatives of the Federal Republic of Germany and several victorious states, concluded on 27 February 1953, the government of the FRG was prohibited from treating different states differently.
The lack of diplomatic relations with the Federal Republic of Germany was a motive that was repeated continuously in Enver Hoxha’s speeches, who emphasized that “the Government of Bonn … owes Albania reparations and compensation in the value of billions of marks.”
But this stance did not remain only in declarations or speeches. On 1 July 1975, the then Albanian ambassador in Belgrade delivered to his German counterpart there, Jesco von Puttkamer, a memorandum of the Albanian government in which compensation in the value of 4.5 billion dollars was requested.
The change of the situation in the 1980s
Albania was the only European state that did not sign the Helsinki Agreement of 1975. However, in general, in the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs it was said that it was no longer acceptable for two European states to not have at least official diplomatic relations.
On the other hand, even in Albania the political climate had changed somewhat, because after the breaking of the alliance with China in 1978, Albania remained without allies and – even more importantly – remained without economic aid.
Elsie says that “the policy of extreme isolation had damaged the development of the Albanian economy and the regime began to take at least some interest in strengthening relations with the countries of Western Europe, in order to compensate for Yugoslav, Soviet, and Chinese aid. Albania’s few products, mainly agricultural, needed the German market as well.”
For this, after the 8th Party Congress (November 1981), Enver Hoxha said that between the People’s Socialist Republic of Albania and the Federal Republic of Germany, there did not appear to be insurmountable obstacles to the establishment of bilateral relations.
Talks in Belgrade, Bonn, and Vienna
Until the beginning of the 1980s, the talks with FRG diplomats for the possible establishment of diplomatic relations took place through the Albanian embassy in Belgrade. But they always remained without result because of the issue of compensation.
In February 1980, the Albanian government announced that it had tasked its ambassador in Vienna to hold further talks about the issue of compensation and relations with the FRG. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the FRG stated that it agreed with this change of venue, because, as stated in official documents, “the Albanian embassy in Vienna was, both from the consular and the political point of view, responsible for covering the Federal Republic of Germany.”
The premise for establishing diplomatic relations
In February 1982, the Albanian side delivered to the German side, through the Albanian embassy in Vienna, a memorandum in which it was said that “we are seeing that the government of Federal Chancellor Helmut Schmidt and of Vice-Chancellor Hans-Dietrich Genscher is following a positive policy and that the party and government of Albania had reached the conclusion that now the premises have been created for establishing diplomatic relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and the People’s Socialist Republic of Albania.”
On 26–27 April 1984, a delegation from Albania stayed in Bonn to address the issue of beginning talks on diplomatic relations. These talks were followed in August 1984 by a private visit to Albania by the prime minister of the state of Bavaria, Franz Josef Strauss, who was one of the first Western politicians to talk in Tirana with the then deputy prime minister, Manush Myftiu.
The official talks began six months later and were held in Austria – a neutral state where Albania also had an embassy – on 8–9 November 1984. At this time, Idriz Bardhi was appointed as Albania’s new ambassador in Vienna, and he played an important role in moving forward the talks between the two sides for opening negotiations on the establishment of diplomatic relations.
Dinner in luxury hotels and restaurants
Robert Elsie recalls that the German delegation was led by Gerold von Braunmühl, while the representatives of the Albanian delegation were Sofokli Lazri, Engjëll Kolaneci, and Anton Bërxholi. “Although the talks were highly secret, there was a somewhat festive atmosphere. Besides the talks, I remember receptions and dinners in the most luxurious and most expensive hotels and restaurants of Vienna.
Mr. Gerold von Braunmühl expressed surprise that the Albanian side spent so much money to present itself as a supposedly prosperous European country, since I had explained to him privately that the standard of living in Albania resembled Africa more than Europe.” / Memorie.al
The talks that lasted for several years were crowned with the signing of the Agreement on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations on 15 September 1987 in Tirana. After approval by both governments, diplomatic relations at the level of ambassadors began on 2 October 1987. Three weeks later, on 23 October 1987, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, stayed in Albania for an official six-hour visit.
DW
