E. VENIZELOS: These three days in Brussels, from Sunday to this afternoon, I had the opportunity to participate in a number of activities, either of the Hellenic Presidency, or other activities. Starting with the meeting of the 12 Foreign Ministers of the Party of European Socialists, who participate in the Foreign Affairs Council. The participation of Ministers of the Party of European Socialists has grown of late, and this group of twelve socialist Foreign Ministers, including ministers from large countries of the Union, like Germany, France, Italy, is a grouping that allows us to prepare and talk in a friendly and unofficial manner regarding all the serious issues that are also discussed officially in the Council.
I also had the opportunity to chair two very important Association and Stability Councils: that with Albania, and that with Algeria. For obvious reasons, Albania, which is a neighbouring country of ours in the Balkans, as well as Algeria, which is a Mediterranean country by which we are supplied with a large portion of the natural gas we use, are of particular strategic interest to Greece. And it was very significant that we were able to contribute to the upgrading of their relations with the European Union officially. Our goal, moreover, is for Albania to be granted the status of candidate country for accession to the EU, by June.
At today’s meeting of the General Affairs Council, which I had the honor of chairing on behalf of Greece, we talked about the preparations for the 26-27 June European Council, which in reality is the epitome of all the major issues of
European policy. Because it is the European Council that will take place after the European elections; a European council that will, in all probability, make official the choices for appointments to the major political posts of the European institutional structure. And, in essence, this European Council will discuss the two major pillars of European policy: the Security, Justice and Rule of Law pillar, and the pillar of Competitiveness, Growth and Jobs, in combination with Energy and Climate Change.
In combination, of course, with the completion of the European Semester: that is, the process of mutual, substantial oversight of all the member states of the European Union and the Eurozone. This is a mutual oversight that we want. It is what normally happens in the European Union. We want to return to this: to the normalcy of an equal European country, without the additional burden of the Memorandum, of the crisis, and naturally of the Troika, which was put together precisely because the IMF is part of this whole scene.
I also had the opportunity to speak today, on behalf of the Council of the European Union, at the brief ceremony in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the big enlargement of 2003-2004, with the accession of ten new members to the European Union, which went from the EU of 15 to the EU of 25, to go to the EU of 27, later, with Bulgaria and Romania, and then to the EU of 28, with Croatia’s accession. The Greek Presidencies are historically associated with the European Union’s major enlargement waves. This happened in 2003, with the signing of the Treaty of Accession, in Athens. It happened in 1994, at the Corfu Summit Meeting. Thus, Greece is identified with major steps in the process of European integration.
On the margins of the Council, I had the opportunity to talk with European Commission Vice-President Siim Kallas, who has now taken over the competencies that were Olli Rehn’s up until now: that is, he has the Economic and Monetary Policy portfolio. And, naturally, the main subject of our conversation – as one would expect – was the confirmation of the sustainability of the Greek debt, which, as we have said repeatedly – and as the head of the European Stability Mechanism himself, Klaus Regling, has stressed – is sustainable for reasons that we have explained technically and that, it would appear, those who are mistrustful do not understand, because they do not want to admit that Greece has, thanks to the sacrifices of its citizens, shaped the conditions for a definitive exit from the crisis. And a definitive return to the conditions of European normalcy.
JOURNALIST: Mr. Deputy Prime Minister, can you tell us anything more about your meeting with Mr. Kallas?
E. VENIZELOS: No, I can’t. You are aware of the substance of the issue – we have gone into it in detail many times.
JOURNALIST: Did you talk about a timeframe?
E. VENIZELOS: No, no. The timeframe is a given from the decisions of the Eurogroup and the European Council.
JOURNALIST: Mr. Tsipras is in Russia as we speak. I would like to know whether he was in contact with the Foreign Ministry before he went; whether he tried or you tried to get into contact.
E. VENIZELOS: No, Mr. Tsipras did not inform us, at least on the level of the Foreign Ministry’s political leadership, that he was going to travel to Moscow. We would have been able to provide him with information, materials and documents. I was dismayed to see that he met with Ms. Matviyenko, in Moscow, the Speaker of Russia’s Federal Assembly, their upper house – who is an old friend of Greece and, you will allow me to say, a personal friend of mine – accusing me of rushing to recognize the current government of Ukraine. He failed to remember that the current government of Ukraine has also been recognized by Mr. Putin and by the Russian government, which is in ongoing negotiations with the President, the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister of Ukraine, also participating together in the Geneva process. I also thank him very much for thinking that anything that has to do with the country’s major national decisions and foreign policy is my own personal affair. Governments do not work like that, and particularly cooperation governments. I hope that, when he forms his government with Mr. Kammenos, he consults with his partner on the major decisions of foreign policy.
JOURNALIST: What is the Greek government’s position on yesterday’s judgment against Turkey by the European Court of Human Rights.?
E. VENIZELOS: We see the judgment of the European Court of Human rights as being extremely important. The vindication of Cyprus and the conviction, yet again, of Turkey, which is considered the perpetrator of a continuous violation of many articles of international and humanitarian law, as well as of the law of human rights, means a great deal for the current state of affairs in the Cyprus issue. Cyprus is struggling for the finding of a solution that is in accordance with European law and the European acquis. Turkey has a responsibility, imputed to it by the European Court of Human Rights for years now. It would be extremely advisable and productive for Turkey to bear in mind these judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, in order to be able to contribute to the shaping of a feasible, just and viable solution, in accordance with the resolutions of the UN Security Council and with the European acquis. The judgment constitutes a moral and legal vindication for the enclaved. The amount of damages Turkey has been called upon to pay – impressively high – means something for the common European belief in the great Council of Europe and in the European Convention on Human Rights regarding the situation prevailing in Cyprus.
JOURNALIST: Can you tell us about the agreement on the use of toponyms that was reached with Albania.
E. VENIZELOS: The agreement that has been concluded between Greece and Albania is very important, because Albania is committed to using the list of Greek toponyms, in accordance with the UN and ICAO specifications. This is something exceedingly simple, practical. The statement made by my Albanian counterpart – that there is no issue of national sovereignty, territorial integrity, and that everything is governed by international law and good neighbourly relations – means a very great deal. The agreement means, very simply, that the toponym given by Greece – the endonym, as it is called – will be written on birth certificates. In the case of an Albanian born in Greece, the passport will simply contain the symbol for Greece: GR. There is thus no issue of connotation. This is the simplest international practice.
JOURNALIST: In the case of a child born of Albanian parents?
E. VENIZELOS: His passport with say GR. His Albanian ID will say whatever the Greek list says.
Thank you very much.
May 13, 2014