Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs Miltiadis Varvitsiotis met with the President of the Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, this morning at the Presidential Mansion.
The Alternate Minister briefed the President on Greece’s six-month Chairmanship of the Council of Europe, which begins on Friday, 15 May, and set out the Chairmanship’s priorities.
Specifically, the Hellenic Chairmanship will focus on key human rights issues raised by the Covid-19 pandemic, and in particular the protection of the right to human life and of public health, in combination with the impact the measures taken in response to the pandemic are having on fundamental freedoms. Mr. Varvitsiotis also mentioned Greece’s plan to carry out its Chairmanship to a great extent via digital means, in order to protect public health. The E-Chairmanship will put special emphasis on young people and their needs in the post-Covid-19 environment.
Finally, the Alternate Minister briefed the President of the Republic on all current European developments and the challenges to which the European Union is responding. He gave a detailed presentation of the European response to the pandemic so far, and especially the effort being made to respond to the economic fallout in order to speed up the recovery of the European economies. He also referred in detail to the long and tough negotiations between the 27 member states on the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework, as well as to EU enlargement in the Western Balkans and management of migration flows.
May 11, 2020