Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos made the following statements after the trilateral meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Greece, Cyprus and Egypt, on the margins of UN General Assembly Ministerial Week in New York:
“The trilateral meeting of Egypt, Cyprus and Greece was a follow-up to visits we made to Cairo – Cypriot Foreign Minister Kasoulides and myself, a short time ago. Today’s meeting sends the message that we are determined to promote this trilateral political cooperation, which we will organize on the ministerial level as well as on the level of officials, with political directors from the three ministries. What is important is for us to function in the region of our interest, the region of the Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean, as three countries interested in stability, peace and development. So our initiative is not in opposition to other countries or other initiatives, but is supplementary, additional.
The Egyptian minister briefed us on the developments in Egypt. We are very interested in Egypt’s following a democratic path that unifies the whole of Egyptian society and gives all Egyptian citizens a sense of security and prospects for prosperity, which is very important for all of our societies. As the EU Presidency in the first half of 2014, Greece is prepared to convey the needs and requests of the Egyptian side, and in cooperation with the Republic of Cyprus we can take very specific initiatives in the sectors of economy, investments, in cooperation with the private sector as well. Moreover, the various platforms for Euro-Mediterranean cooperation enable us to find funding on issues that are critical to our societies, like education, unemployment – particularly youth unemployment – which is a common problem for all the societies. It is also vital that we promote our cooperation in the sector of citizen protection, in the sector of search and rescue – issues that concern all the countries of the Mediterranean.
The trilateral cooperation does not affect the bilateral cooperation that we have and that must move ahead as fast as possible on the issues we have designated. One basic issue, as you know, is the delimitation of maritime zones and, thus, the exploitation of the potential given to us in the Mediterranean by the International Law of the Sea. This enables us to concern ourselves with energy, to extract resources, to give development prospects to our peoples.”
JOURNALIST: Will you brief your counterpart Mr. Davutoglu on this meeting tomorrow?
E. VENIZELOS: I am prepared to discuss all the issues with Mr. Davutoglu, including Egypt, just as we will discuss our bilateral relations and the situation in the wider region, the prime example being Syria. And at today’s trilateral meeting, we talked a lot about the Syrian issue, because, as you can understand, as an individual country and through the Arab League, Egypt plays a decisive role in the implementation of a process that can lead to a political solution, a viable solution in Syria.
JOURNALIST: On the subject of Golden Dawn, Mr. President, it was reported in Athens that you had some meetings here at the UN and that some of your collocutors raised the issue.
E. VENIZELOS: I refer to the meetings I have had on the margins of the General Assembly, during which my collocutors raised the issue of Golden Dawn. It is an issue that concerns them greatly – almost as much as the economic situation in Greece, the economic crisis. Because having an overtly Nazi party in parliament, with polls showing an upward trend for such a party, is a problem.
It is a problem for Greece, for its institutions, for its democratic tradition. And it is a problem for Greek society. I have been raising the issue of Golden Dawn for months now – since before the elections, before June 2012. And if the other political forces had listened to what I was saying all that time, we would have avoided unpleasant, dramatic, unacceptable events. Better late than never. The constitutional forces in Greece have to be activated. And this was the subject of the talks I had today, by telephone, with the President of the Republic, during which I asked that he take under his auspices the reactions and mobilizations of civil society. The political leaders, the political parties in the constitutional belt, have to do the best we can inside and outside of Parliament, without petty political reactions and ulterior motives. Because that is not the issue now. We don’t have conventional political relations; we have a situation that is assailing democracy at its core.
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Venizelos also made the following statement to Egyptian TV:
“I would like to reiterate our support for the stability and prosperity of Egypt. Egypt has always had a very important role in the wider region of the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean. This is very important to us. Our bilateral relations, as well as this first trilateral meeting, send a clear message. For us, Egypt’s stability is important – it is a priority.
JOURNALIST: Regarding Syria, will Greece support a military intervention in the country?
E. VENIZELOS: We need a political solution via a Geneva II-type process for Syria. It is also necessary that the Security Council be again rendered capable of playing its fundamental role as the guarantor of security and peace in the region and throughout the world.
September 23, 2013