The upcoming visit of Edi Rama to Athens is an “unnecessary choice” on the part of the Albanian leader given that “there are issues in Greek-Albanian relations,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said.

“It’s his right, a choice that seems rather superfluous to me, which is why I said it’s an unnecessary choice,” Mitsotakis told the ProtoThema.gr website.

Rama is expected in Athens on Sunday to address a gathering of supporters and members of his party. The date of the visit marks the first anniversary of the arrest of Fredi Beleri, the ethnic Greek, jailed mayor-elect of Himare, who is now a candidate for Mitsotakis’ New Democracy in June’s European Parliament election.

In his interview, Mitsotakis underlined that the Albanian premier is not coming to Athens as a guest of the government, but is coming to speak to his compatriots.

“We will not ban the gathering; we will not facilitate it,” he said, adding that Beleri’s incarceration is a European, and not a bilateral, issue.

The Greek Foreign Ministry had informed the Albanian prime minister’s office that it would be preferable if the visit was conducted after the European elections.