Athens , 26 January 2010

Mr. Droutsas: The first Councils of the new year were completed a short while ago, and as you know they are now held within the framework laid down in the Lisbon Treaty.

At the General Affairs Council, the principal aim was to give the Spanish Presidency the opportunity to brief us on its programme. Specifically, we discussed the Spanish Presidency’s plans for confronting the economic crisis, strengthening sustainable development in the European space, within the framework of the EU’s strategy for 2020. We also discussed the institutional issues raised by the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty and the strengthening of the Union’s external action so that it can become a dynamic global player. And, finally, the strengthening of the rights and freedoms of European citizens.

For our part, we stressed our full support for the Spanish Presidency’s efforts towards the further enlargement of the EU – particularly in the Balkans – and we again had the opportunity to stress Greece’s proposal and initiative: Agenda 2014, which provides a very specific European accession perspective for our neighbouring countries in the Balkans. And here, together with the Austrian Foreign Minister, we had the opportunity to brief the Council jointly on our joint initiative: the letter we signed within the framework of the Austrian Foreign Minister’s recent visit to Athens; the letter promoting precisely this European accession perspective for the countries of the Balkans.

The Council also had the opportunity to present another Greek proposal and initiative for the creation of a European volunteer corps. In the wake of the earthquake in Haiti, for confronting the major humanitarian disasters suffered round the world, Greece proposes the creation of an institutional framework that will enable European citizens to join forces and contribute collectively to confronting natural disasters around the world. The aim is to make European volunteer efforts more effective and organized than they are today. We think that this would enhance the humanitarian profile of the EU – which is already making a huge contribution – and would also strengthen European volunteers’ sense of participation in a common purpose.

We believe that this proposal can be implemented quite soon, with the assistance of the European Commission and the High Representative, and in fact we believe that next year – 2011 – could be a target-date for this initiative, given that it is the European year of volunteerism.

At the Foreign Affairs Council we discussed a series of issues that are, I would say, quite difficult. First of all, we talked about the situation in Haiti and the next steps in confronting this humanitarian tragedy. The next issue we discussed was the situation in Somalia and the piracy issue.

We agreed on the stance that the EU will maintain at the conferences in London this week on Afghanistan and Yemen. And with regard to Afghanistan, I would like to stress that Greece emphasized an holistic approach to the situation, incorporating – beyond the security issues, which are important, of course – the development prospects of the Afghan people and the Afghan Administration’s taking effective and sustainable responsibility for governance of the country, with the international community’s gradually moving to a second level: that of support for reconstruction efforts.

Finally, at the Foreign Ministers’ luncheon we discussed the ongoing negotiations between the six powers and Iran, as well as the EU’s strategy regarding Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Journalist: On another matter, Mr. Minister. Was a letter from the Prime Minister sent to Mr. Erdogan?

Mr. Droutsas: The Greek Prime Minister’s letter of reply was delivered to his Turkish counterpart, Mr. Erdogan, today. In this letter of reply, the Greek Prime Minister expressed Greece’s desire for relations between the two countries to improve. There is a brief inventory of the problems that continue to trouble the relations between our two countries. Greece’s positions are set out and there is a description of the framework within which Greece is seeking the solution.

Specifically, Greece proposes the relaunching of the exploratory contacts, and in fact we stress that these exploratory contacts cannot have an open-ended timeframe. We have to agree on a specific timeframe within which we will be able to find a solution on the continental shelf issue. Otherwise, we should have joint recourse to the International Court in The Hague.

All of this in the Greek government’s spirit of initiative, of self-confident foreign policy, of a foreign policy of clear positions, serious and systematic preparation, and step-by-step approach.

Journalist: When did those contacts stop? You said “relaunching”.

Mr. Droutsas: I will clarify that – thank you very much for that question. These exploratory contacts, which started in 2000, have not stopped. We are simply expressing the desire for their intensification and their really focussing on this issue that needs to be discussed.

Journalist: Regarding the European volunteer corps. If I’m not mistaken, a similar proposal was made by the New Democracy government, which took it from the Spanish. Can you comment on that?

Mr. Droutsas: I think there is always a continuity in a country’s foreign policy, including that of Greece. This idea was born at the outset of the discussions on the Treaty of the European Union. Greece always played a pioneering role on this issue, and of course there is, as I said, follow-up on all these efforts.

I would just like to take this opportunity to say that we should get away from this kind of thinking in Greece. If something has been put forward by a previous government, that doesn’t mean that a new government will not continue worthwhile efforts that have been made in the past. This is obvious to us. This is a very serious and good initiative from Greece; an initiative that started with the discussions on the EU Treaty. In fact, in the Lisbon Treaty there is a specific article that is the basis for all of these efforts and the initiatives we are proposing.