AGENCE EUROPE: Briefly, what are the main priorities of the Greek Presidency of the EU?
D. KOURKOULAS: To a great extent, the priorities of the Greek Presidency are those that have been imposed by the political repercussions of the crisis that has hit the European Union, and certain member states in particular, very hard.
The main priority is to implement concrete instruments to support growth, bolster employment and fight unemployment – particularly youth unemployment – and help cohesion along.
The second priority relates to the institutional architecture of the eurozone and the reinforcement of this financial framework, an exercise which has already started and in which considerable progress has already been made. The exercise will continue under our Presidency, particularly in the sector of banking union, but in others as well.
The third priority is our aim to seek a more coherent approach on the part of the EU to migration and mobility. There is not just the aspect of the fight against illegal immigration, there is also a side of it related to growth – in other words, how to make better use of legal immigration as an economic growth factor. Under our Presidency, there will also be a revision of the strategic guidelines laid down in the Stockholm document, which expires in 2014. We hope that, at the European Council of June, it will be possible to agree on new post-2014 strategic guidelines.
There is also a fourth, horizontal priority: the maritime policy of the EU. The sea lanes are extremely important to our trade. 70% of all goods which arrive on the single market come via the sea. The aim is to seek a more global approach to all maritime issues (security and energy aspects of the maritime policy). There are documents currently being prepared by the EEAS, and the aim is for the European Council of June to adopt certain decisions in this field.
AGENCE EUROPE: Do you have other priorities?
D. KOURKOULAS: These are the 4 or rather the 3+1 political priorities, but there is a long list of other very important priorities, starting with enlargement. For Greece and the Presidency, this remains a strategic priority.
There are also many other instruments, legislative and otherwise, linked to the completion of the single market, which is extremely important for growth. The digital market is one of these. The aim is to achieve an integrated digital market, in order to promote job creation and encourage intra-European electronic trade. There are also issues related to transport and telecoms. Amongst the other dossiers, there is the funding of the European political parties.
We intend to do our best to have everything legislative adopted during the first three months of our Presidency and at the final plenary session of the European Parliament, in April.
AGENCE EUROPE: How, indeed, can this be an effective Presidency when it will last just three and a half months due to the European elections at the end of May?
D. KOURKOULAS: We cannot avoid this time constraint. We are already working closely with the other institutions. I was at the European Parliament in mid-December before the committee of chairs of the parliamentary committees to review everything in the pipeline and agree on the priorities. We will hold as many sessions as necessary to conclude the final dossiers. We will work towards launching certain initiatives, which it will not be possible to complete under our Presidency, but to prepare the ground for the Italian Presidency. We are working very closely with the Italian Presidency, because we want a programme which covers both halves of 2014.
AGENCE EUROPE : Your country is under financial assistance. What impact will this have on your Presidency?
D. KOURKOULAS: The financial situation of Greece and the fact that we are under assistance will not interfere with the institutional role of my country as President of the Council of the EU. Quite the reverse: the fact that a country which is under a programme can take up this position demonstrates the institutional equality of the member states. This equality has taken something of a battering in recent years due to the crisis and due to the need to take emergency measures somewhat outside the conventional institutional framework.
One consequence is that we intend to be a very austere Presidency from a budgetary point of view. The Ministry for Finance has given us €50 million for 2013-2014. We are almost certain that we will not spend all of this. We have a very small team in the Foreign Ministry (28 people) who are coordinating all of this, at both diplomatic and organisational levels. We have almost exclusively used civil servants in order to avoid additional expenditure. We won't be giving out ties or scarves as souvenirs. It is mainly symbolic, but it is important.
AGENCE EUROPE : Will Greece get involved in the European debate with Euroscepticism growing? How will the Presidency get close to the European citizens?
D. KOURKOULAS: We are aware of trends in European public opinion, of the rise in Euroscepticism, not only in traditionally Eurosceptic political circles, but also across almost all member states, on the left wing as well as the right of the political parties. This is extremely worrying, because the EU cannot move forward without the goodwill of its people, the European people. We will try to make a contribution, by trying to take forward the dossiers and priorities which are important to regain the citizens' trust. And we plan to show that, in order to come out of crisis, we need a better Europe and more of it. Undoing or destroying everything that has been built up over decades and which has had highly positive results for our continent is not the answer.
AGENCE EUROPE: What are your priorities on enlargement?
D. KOURKOULAS: The December European Council took some extremely important decisions, calling for the enlargement process to move forward. We are very pleased that it is proceeding, because this is one of the most successful policies of the EU, and one which is very important to our stability. We welcome the decision to start negotiations with Serbia in January; this will also open the door to bolstering our relations with Kosovo. As for Albania, there is a very realistic prospect of the country's obtaining candidate status in 2014, we hope under our Presidency. As regards Turkey, negotiations have resumed after a long period on ice. Greece is in favour of Turkey's European perspective, as long as the country meets the necessary criteria.
AGENCE EUROPE: Lithuania attached a great deal of importance to the countries of the Eastern Partnership. Do you intend to continue this or to switch emphasis on the countries of the Mediterranean?
D. KOURKOULAS: We will continue to implement the important decisions made in Vilnius. We will work intensively to secure the signature of the agreements initialed with Moldova and Georgia, to move visa liberalization forward and to build a closer and more strategic relationship with Azerbaijan, which is also a very important country for the energy policy of the EU. For Ukraine, we will have to see how things pan out.
AGENCE EUROPE : What are your ideas on reinforcing the social pillar of the Economic and Monetary Union?
D. KOURKOULAS: After a long period of very tough policies, very radical and necessary budget adjustments, the time has come to try to rebalance our policies whilst continuing financial cleansing efforts, but placing a bit more emphasis on growth and the social aspect. The European social model is an integral part of the heritage of the EU. We mustn't forget that the social dimension has made a contribution to the economic development of our member states for decades. We need to adjust, to reform the social model so that it can be viable under the new conditions of globalization, but under no circumstances should we destroy it. There are more specific measures which we will try to reinforce, because there is no contradiction between the social dimension and economic development. On the contrary, it can be an element of economic growth and competitiveness.
AGENCE EUROPE : One of your priorities is growth, employment and cohesion. What specific measures do you intend to put in place?
D. KOURKOULAS: There are decisions which have already been made. For example, on youth unemployment, the implementation of additional programmes with an envelope of six billion for regions with a youth unemployment rate of above 25%. There is the implementation of “frontloading”, which consist of trying to use the budget in the first two years. Here, the member states have a responsibility to try to absorb the funds as quickly as possible. There is also the use of European Investment Bank (EIB) funds to try to multiply the effects of the structural funds, particularly those aimed at SMEs.
The implementation of all the legislation necessary for the structural funds, which has already been largely put in place under the Lithuanian Presidency, is also very important for the social dimension. For some member states, community funds are the most important funding for investments, but also for social policy.
AGENCE EUROPE : How do you plan to follow up the proposals of the Lampedusa task force?
D. KOURKOULAS: We have been very actively involved as a member state. As the Presidency, we will continue down this road, as we believe that the EU has lagged behind and that it is unacceptable for there to be phenomena such as those which have been seen like what we witnessed in Lampedusa. We need a more global, more proactive approach. We will try to persuade our partners to lay emphasis on our actions in third countries that are the countries of origin for the transit of illegal immigrants and, in particular, fight criminal networks. We need greater emphasis on cooperation, on the conclusion and proper implementation, by our partners in the third countries, of the readmission agreements. We will continue to play an active part in the task force, also with the Italian Presidency, with which we are working closely on this issue. Our Presidency will also see the discussion and adoption of new strategic guidelines for our migration policy, the revision of the Schengen code and the asylum system at the European level. These are highly sensitive issues which it is not always easy for the member states to agree upon, but it is in everybody’s, in the north and in the south alike, to have better cooperation, coordination and solidarity.
AGENCE EUROPE: Commissioner Viviane Reding is very much counting on the Greek Presidency to move data protection reform forward. What assurances can you give her?
D. KOURKOULAS: This is a very important dossier, one of our priorities, but also a very complicated one on the technical level and from the point of view of political sensitivities. The European Parliament is very interested in this dossier. We have agreed with them that we will do our best to move this dossier forward, we will hold many meetings of the working group. We will need to consult the experts of the member states with legislation in this area and which all have different traditions. It is very complicated, but I think that there is political will, and agreement on the need for harmonized standards at the European level.
AGENCE EUROPE: Do you think that there will be progress on the enlargement of Schengen to Romania and Bulgaria?
D. KOURKOULAS: This is a decision which has to be made unanimously by the member states. We will have to wait for the Commission's report in February, and then there will be a debate at the Council. We believe that a great deal of progress has been made by the two countries towards fulfilling the conditions to join Schengen.
January 10, 2014