Athens, 15 December 2009

Ladies and Gentlemen MPs,

The Greek people demand solutions for the country’s problems. This is what we are working on; not just any solutions; solutions which fully serve Greece's interests.

Extreme voices and pompous rhetoric do not serve this goal. These voices and rhetoric are the easy way. We are not going to go down that road; nor are we going to allow anyone to mislead us towards it. Our guide is the will of the Greek people for the country's progress – always bearing in mind the need to fully safeguard the interests of our country.

The majority of our fellow citizens honoured us with their trust because they believe in the values we defend: meritocracy, dignity, transparency, initiatives and self-confidence. Extreme voices and pompous rhetoric signify a lack of confidence. We are confident; we have clear positions and we will not allow anyone to undermine them.

You have criticised the outcome of the General Affairs Council which evaluated the accession course of Turkey and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

To you, foreign policy is a zero-sum game. Greece’s gain is our neighbour’s loss. Europe is not seen as a peace project in which we participate as equals, but as a foreign power coming to substitute Greece’s small – in your eyes - stature. I am not going to accept this fatalist view of our country's capabilities.

According to your worldview, Turkey and FYROM have no place in the European Union as members. It is a given fact that you would be dissatisfied with any conclusions that would not halt our neighbouring countries’ accession process.

Our disagreement is, therefore, structural; it is fundamental. To us, Europe is a tool for development and peace. It is a tool that we shape with our own hands, constantly improving it.

Last week, we achieved significant results under adverse circumstances. The conclusions have been improved on many points according to Greece’s and Cyprus’ demands.

We managed to remove dangerous wordings, such as the one referring to bilateral disputes that should not obstruct the progress of accession negotiations. Turkey is called upon to fully comply with the Copenhagen criteria, particularly in areas such as religious freedoms and minority and property rights, an important issue to the Ecumenical Patriarchate and to the Greek minority.

We succeeded in including an explicit reference to the implementation of bilateral readmission agreements, a vital tool for tackling illegal migration flows from Turkey.

The Council asked Turkey to commit unconditionally to good neighbourly relations and to the peaceful resolution of conflicts with its neighbours, including the recourse to the International Court of Justice in The Hague. For the first time, a reference was made to the respect for the International Law of the Sea – a very significant achievement. And in closing, two words on the Skopje name issue.

We asked for the Greek people’s vote based on clear positions. We were given a mandate in order to turn these positions into reality; not to shift the responsibility for our own decisions on the name issue to the people – others are the ones holding referenda trying to escape their responsibilities. We are not afraid of the responsibility. We are not afraid to exercise our policy. We are not afraid to govern.

We want to resolve the name issue taking into account the national red line. And it is clear: There cannot be a start of EU accession negotiations or NATO entry without a prior solution. That is not negotiable. It is fact.

With regard to our neighbors so-called identity, I have one final word to say. Mr. Nimetz was wrong to include other issues in his proposals in 2005. It was even worse that the government of Mr. Karamanlis accepted to discuss them.

This is grist to Mr. Gruevski’s mill;It helps his efforts to prevent progress on the UN negotiations and to prevent reaching a solution. Mr. Gruevski is trying to monopolise the name “Macedonia”, using irredentist visions in order to usurp a historical past that does not belong to him.

So I'm saying to you clearly: The Macedonian identity is a part of every Greek’s identity. It is non-negotiable. We are born with it and we die with it. And it's a good thing for this to be heard not only in Skopje, but also in New York and wherever else needed.