Today we held a videoconference of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Eastern Partnership to consider the progress in the cooperation between the European Union and the six eastern member states of the Partnership, ahead of the upcoming videoconference on the level of heads of state and government.
Among other things, we discussed the course of the pandemic in our eastern partners' countries and the potential for Union assistance in responding to the repercussions of the pandemic – assistance that concerns both financial aid and transfer of know-how to the state mechanisms of these countries and to Civil Society for responding to the impact of the virus.
We also talked about the progress in our partners’ structural reforms, based on the European data and the course of the cooperation in implementing these reforms. I voiced Greece’s readiness to transfer reform experience in both the public and private sectors.
Finally, we discussed environmental issues – given the urgent need to take initiatives in response to climate change – as well as ways to deal with fake news campaigns, which showed a sharp increase in the initial stage of the pandemic.
June 11, 2020