Athens , 23 December 2009

Mr. Speaker,

Ladies and Gentlemen MPs,

Allow me to start with the following observation:

In their remarks, some – a few – members of the main opposition have had the courage to make a self-critical assessment of their party’s mistakes and the omissions during their recent term in government.

Most New Democracy officials, however, still insult citizens’ common sense with their irrational statements and accusations against the present government, even going as far as to argue that PASOK is responsible for the country’s current situation.

We are also witnessing an effort on the part of New Democracy, following the election of its new leadership, to act as if it has no past – a very recent past in government, with the accompanying responsibilities – and that it has just now come into existence by parthenogenesis.

You do bear a responsibility, ladies and gentlemen of the New Democracy party; you bear the sole responsibility for the country’s current situation.

And we cannot let the Greek people to forget that.

Ladies and gentlemen New Democracy’s MPs, one would expect you to have the courage and the sensitivity to apologise to the Greek people for the position that you brought this country in.

And with all due respect: You owe it to them.

We are now hearing New Democracy officials, especially prominent members of the previous government, support different positions than the ones they had only a while ago while in office, even on delicate foreign policy issues.

And I wonder:

did you believe in these positions – as you express them today – also when you were in government?

OR

are you expressing a different view today simply for reasons of opposition tactics?

As a representative of the younger generation, I would like to tell you:

These tactics and these practices in Greek politics must finally be abandoned.

We can no longer simply accuse each other just because we believe that it is imposed by our role – either in government or in opposition.

The country’s current situation can no longer tolerate any more of these games.

The country’s current situation calls for clear positions, clear words, a lot of hard work, immediate action and honesty – from all of us.

The Prime Minister presented positions and proposals for a way out of the current crisis which touch upon the real causes of the problems that the country is facing; proposals that look to the future.

And this is precisely what the country and the Greek people need right now:

proposals on the country’s future. at last, the vision that Greece was deprived of in recent years. Something that can make the Greek people believe that it is once more worth fighting for.

Ladies and Gentlemen MPs, citizens are not interested in our own petty fights.

They've grown tired of that.

They are only interested in the future – their immediate future – the future of their family, the future of their children.

The citizens demand and expect a lot from us – not just the current government, but from all of us.

So let us all realise then that we bear a significant responsibility vis-à-vis the country and our fellow citizens – all of us. Particularly at the current juncture.

Ladies and Gentlemen MPs,

In conducting our country’s foreign policy, we want to be informed about,  and have a say in, major international matters;

we want a constructive stance, initiatives, and our own proposals.

We want solutions.

We need smart diplomacy, that will also reach beyond the big – and certainly crucial – national issues: the Cyprus problem, Greek-Turkish relations, and the Skopje issue.

Our objective is for Greece to regain its presence and diplomatic capital in the Middle East, the Mediterranean, the Caucasus, and the Black Sea region, where we are about to take up the BSEC Chairmanship.

Our foreign policy cannot be conducted using yesterday’s tools.

Modern dilpomacy requires multilateral action, a comprehensive approach and constant information.

The opportunities and challenges that a country such as Greece – a member of the European Union and NATO – is faced with are great.

And the answers that we will give in the coming years will define not only our course, but also the course of the entire region.

Greece deserves to be present where decisions are being made;

with clear positions, powerful words and a power of intervention.

In order for this to happen, we should make the most of all our forces and capitalise on our comparative advantages.

In this effort, traditional foreign policy will be developed alongside modern forms of diplomacy, such as economic, cultural and mostly, green, environmental diplomacy.

We will make the most of the huge – and unfortunately forgotten – cultural capital of Greece with a view to promoting the country's image as a country with universal values and gaining friends and allies around the world.

We will promote cooperation within the framework of environmental diplomacy, particularly with the countries of the Western Balkans, the Black Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean in order to address the impact of climate change on our region.

Greece has the necessary expertise to develop research and business synergies in the field of renewable sources of energy and environmental management.

Our goal is to capitalise on these capabilities on a regional level, in order to turn Greece into a significant hub of corporate and diplomatic action.

Economic diplomacy is a key dimension of the Foreign Ministry’s work, having as its main axes promoting Greece’s economic interests, reinforcing investment and business activities and strengthening its exports of products and services.

In today’s economic juncture, it is imperative that we take new initiatives to promote our country’s comparative advantages.

We will support with all the means at our disposal the successful deployment of business missions and other actions of economic externalisation.

Apart from traditional exportable products, we will promote the dynamic and extrovert fields of the Greek economy, particularly those with represented by enterprises with know-how and a specialisation in high-tech products and services.

Ladies and Gentlemen MPs,

Everyone must save up in order to help the country out of this crisis.

Our guiding principle at the Foreign Ministry will always be to represent Greece in a dignified manner, without exaggerations and overspending.

And we will prove that on a daily basis.

Even the smallest cost-cutting measures are important.

And allow me to stress the following:

In this manner if we are able to save in order to pay even one month's salary for one of our fellow citizens, it will be worth our while.

Apart from inelastic expenses, such as our subscriptions to international organisations and programmes and the operation of our 150 Missions abroad, all other expenses have already been put under the microscope;

a curb on the traveling of officials and also diplomatic courier services, in order to limit them to what is strictly necessary.

We will pay particular attention and emphasis to as many economy tickets as possible and renegotiate our agreements with hotels around the world.

Cuts in operational expenses on communications, commissions, repair and maintenance works and, where possible, cuts in rents for residences and offices abroad.

In 2009, in a major effort, the Foreign Ministry reduced its expenses by 40 million, whilst it contributed to the Greek state's reserve fund with €21 million from part of its Consulates’ proceeds.

But the crisis is not over.

And so is our effort in the coming year.

We must give the right tools to our officials, through life-long learning and new technologies.

The Diplomatic Academy and Interior Ministry’s Centre for Analysis and Planning will once again take up the mission that they were set up for.

The Foreign Ministry has excellent human resources.

It is our duty to support and strengthen it with means, knowledge and, most of all, trust on the part of the political leadership.

Our immediate priority and my personal commitment is to modernise the Foreign Ministry and its services and provide ongoing training to its competent officials, diplomats and other employees.

It is an investment in the quality and efficiency of Greece’s diplomatic service;

an investment that will soon bring economic benefits to the state budget as well

At the level of technology, the Foreign Ministry is developing innovative communication and information management programmes in order to save money, improve the productivity of its officials and provide faster services to the citizens.

I will indicatively mention our N-VIS programme that will replace the Schengen visa system, the new system of electronic management of documents, the new portal for our consulates, and internet telephony that will allow us to cut on communication spending.

Ladies and Gentlemen MPs,

We need clear words, strong arguments, and sincere positions on the major issues of our foreign policy.

Our foreign policy must once again have a spine.

And it is acquiring it on a daily basis.

In these first two months of our term in office, we have already made the first significant steps in the right direction.

On our relations with Turkey:

clear words and self-confidence.

We seek rapprochement, we seek cooperation.

We want to improve the climate in the two countries’ relations.

We take initiatives through actions.

We set the framework and the pace, without being in a hurry.

Through good cooperation, we are planning the next careful steps;

steps that will lead us to results.

We are not interested in making moves to grab the attention.

We still support Turkey's full accession in the EU.

not today's Turkey, but a European Turkey.

There are no blank cheques;

a Turkey respecting its citizens and defending religious freedoms and minority rights.

A Turkey that will listen carefully to the Ecumenical Patriarch, the world leader of the Orthodox faith, and that will embrace the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

Here, I would like to take the opportunity, given the latest developments, to express – from the floor of the Hellenic Parliament – Greece’s full and unreserved support to the Ecumenical Patriarchate and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I.

We support the accession course of Turkey at the service of good neighbourly relations;

a country that will stop disputing our territorial integrity and cooperate in order to address major common challenges, such as illegal migration;

a Turkey not trying to interfere in our domestic affairs;

.a Turkey that will finally set free the process for the resolution of the Cyprus issue

and withdraw its occupation troops from the island and contribute actively to reaching a fair, viable and functional solution based on the UN decisions and the European acquis.

Greece will continue to support the efforts of President Christofias with all its might.

Greece is again standing by Cyprus and by the Cypriot people, not just with words, but with deeds.

We gave the proof of that with the Prime Minister’s visit to Cyprus and the close co-operation and full coordination of our two countries at the December Council.

Greece and Cyprus speak with one voice once again.

We managed to put things in the right perspective once again, under difficult circumstances.

We laid the foundations in order to take the next crucial steps from now onwards.

We waged a joint diplomatic battle and achieved our goals under particularly adverse circumstances.

This is not just about the words that were added to the conclusions, but also the dangerous wordings that we managed to remove  such as the Commission’s reference that so-called bilateral disputes should not obstruct the accession process.

We achieved our goals and now others are the ones that need to give and seek clarifications, but without any practical significance.

Ladies and Gentlemen MPs,

Greece is becoming once again the motor engine of the accession perspective of our region’s countries.

With the “2014 Agenda”, we are calling upon Europe to shift its attention to the Balkans once again and give a political pledge of European integration to the region's peoples.

We call upon Europe to take up its historical responsibilities and give a prospect of peace, development and progress.

The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia has a primary position in this vision of ours.

We want a future of peace and cooperation with our neighbouring people;

a future that will be based on clear relations – on the national red line.

And we should all concentrate on that national red line.

This common position, this common front is an achievement.

We should not abandon it for the sake of any discussion on the future of the country’s conservative political forces.

Ladies and Gentlemen MPs,

This government trusts Greece.

We have faith in the ability of the Greek people to achieve great and beautiful things.

This gives us the self-confidence and the certainty that we can, and we will, get over the crisis.

We organised excellent Olympic Games.

We achieved the country’s entry into the euro area.

We secured the accession of the Republic of Cyprus into the European Union.

We fought against mediocrity and claimed more and better things for Greece and its people.

But any team – no matter how capable – cannot move forward, cannot create, without a leader, and the same goes for Greece.

What Greece needed was leadership.

It needed someone to show the way and set bold goals.

It needed a different development proposal.

And now it has it.

We seek a consensus.

We want to move ahead together with the other political forces, because our fight will be to the benefit of our homeland.

But I want to be absolutely clear:

We are going to let any petty political expediency, any narrow-minded, conservative political or corporatist interests to stand in the way of the fulfillment of the Greek people’s hopes.

The Greek people have given us a clear mandate;

a mandate to change everything.

And be certain that we will.

Thank you.