Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs Miltiadis Varvitsiotis met with the French Secretary of State for European Affairs, Amélie de Montchalin, today in Paris. During the meeting, they agreed to host a Ministerial Conference in Athens of the seven EU member states of southern Europe, the Euro Med 7, in May 2020.
The proposal from the French side, which currently holds the EuMed7 chairmanship, is seen as very important, reconfirming the excellent level of Greek-French relations. The purpose of the Athens Ministerial Conference is to prepare the EuMed7 Summit Meeting, which will take place this coming July (2/7), in Corsica. In addition to Greece and France, Italy, Spain, Cyprus, Malta and Portugal are in the EU Med Group.
During the meeting, Mr. Varvitsiotis and his colleague confirmed the multidimensional nature of Greek-French relations and their mutual will to further deepen these relations, not just in traditional sectors of cooperation, but also in new cutting-edge fields.
The talks focused on the European Commission’s proposal for the new Methodology for EU Enlargement, security issues in the Southeastern Mediterranean, the migration issue, the new EU-UK relationship, and Rule of Law. Mr. Varvitsiotis stressed that Greece attaches great importance to compliance with the principles of Rule of Law – principles that Greece and France have always defended. “Any blow to the rule of law strikes at the very heart of the European democracies, at the core of the European way of life,” he stated.
February 26, 2020