Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos made the following statement on the Cyprus issue:
“It is dismaying that the same so-called ‘patriotic’ circles always attempt to trade on national sensitivities politically or in the media, making out that they don’t understand that there is no differentiation between Greece and Cyprus.
In fact, the Foreign Ministries of Greece and Cyprus, always in close cooperation and fully aligned, needed to restore truth and order due to the irresponsibility with which an MEP attempted, at the European Parliament Plenary, to distort the reality of the situation, while the outgoing Greek Presidency presented its account of the Presidency via the Prime Minister. Relevant texts have been made public and are straightforward and absolutely clear.
The reaction from the two ministries was necessary not only for reasons of national interest, not just because it reflects the truth, but also because we needed to safeguard the exceptional work of the personnel of the diplomatic services of Greece and Cyprus in Brussels, Athens and Nicosia.
Everything else is irresponsible petty or personal pandering aimed at gaining publicity through tampering with very serious matters.
The worst thing is that the baseness of the intentions of the circles in question is laid bare, because the main motif of their statements is the supposed divergence between the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister in terms of the approach to and handling of individual issues of foreign policy and security policy.
Let them understand that there is complete agreement between the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister, as well as an effort to safeguard the greatest possible degree of unity on these issues amongst the political forces, including beyond the governing majority.
The fact that, as Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, I systematically avoid linking our national issues with the baser aspects of the domestic political reality, and the fact that, as such, in order to protect the country’s international image, I often tolerate reactions – supposedly directed against myself and against the party I lead – that concern government policies agreed upon, naturally, with the Prime Minister, should not be taken by anyone as permission to flirt with the abovementioned circles, to commit improprieties or play personal games with national issues.”
July 6, 2014