The following are excerpts from Deputy Foreign Minister Spyros Kouvelis’s 21 March 2011 interview on “Flash” radio with journalists T. Lalas and K. Bogdanos:
· “Greece’s position is precisely within the framework of Security Council Resolution 1973: that the hostilities need to stop immediately – there needs to be a ceasefire and civilians have to be out of danger.”
· “The Greek government has decided not to get involved in the operational part of the operations in Libya. It is one thing for a country to send aircraft and personnel to participate in the operations, and another to provide support, like providing supplies from bases and monitoring the area. As a country, we have chosen to do the second, since Greek involvement in the military operation part has a completely different reading and meaning from what Greece is trying to achieve: the potential to intervene on the diplomatic level.”
· “The developments in North Africa, and particularly Libya, are a vital effort towards democratization, which, overall, is of great importance to European countries, and particularly southern European countries.”
March 21, 2011