Deputy Foreign Minister Dimitris Kourkoulas participated in a Meeting of Visegrad Group (V4) (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) Foreign Ministers with their counterparts from the Western Balkans (Croatia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, Kosovo, and FYROM), Bulgaria, Romania and Greece on Thursday, 25 October, in Warsaw. The meeting was held at the initiative of the current Polish V4 Presidency.
Greece’s participation, for the first time, in a V4 meeting took place within the framework of the reactivation of Greek foreign policy in the region, as only Greece, Bulgaria and Romania were invited to participate in the V4-Western Balkans meeting.
During the meeting there was an exchange of views on the European perspective of the Western Balkans in light of the publication of the European Commission progress report and ahead of the December European Council.
There was general agreement on the need to support the European perspective of the countries of the Western Balkans, to keep the European perspective of these countries high on the EU agenda, and to promote reforms.
Mr. Kourkoulas briefed his colleagues on Greece’s 2014 Agenda initiative, through which the Greek EU Presidency in the first half of 2014 will promote the European perspective of the countries of the Western Balkans. The Greek Presidency plans to convene a summit meeting, along the lines of the Thessaloniki meeting in 2003, and take operational actions in sectors such as energy and transport. He also underscored the need to utilize the funding tools available within the EU framework.
Mr. Kourkoulas expressed Greece’s satisfaction at the progress in many countries of the Western Balkans, stressing Greece’s will to continue to support the reform process.
Regarding FYROM’s European perspective, Mr. Kourkoulas referred to the recent letter and memorandum sent by Foreign Minister Avramopoulos to his FYROM counterpart, who has yet to respond.
He also had the opportunity to brief his colleagues on the progress in efforts towards fiscal stability in Greece, as well as on the steps being taken to definitively end the eurozone crisis in view of the upcoming December European Council’s decisions on the banking union.
October 25, 2012