During his visit to Lisbon, Deputy Foreign Minister Dimitris Kourkoulas met with his Portuguese counterpart, European Affairs Minister Morais Leitao. During their meeting they discussed issues concerning the preparations for the Greek EU Presidency in the first half of 2014, as well as the process of elaborating the recent European Council decisions on the multiannual financial framework. The European Parliament has been called upon to approve the agreement on the European Union budget for 2014-2020, while talks are continuing on the adoption of the regulations for implementation that will determine the process for NSRF absorption.
Mr. Kourkoulas also participated as a keynote speaker in a German Marshall Fund of the U.S. conference on “The future of Mediterranean Europe: Between the Euro Crisis and Arab Revolution”. In his speech, he described the course of the stabilization of the Greek economy and the major challenges of growth and job creation, stressing the importance of implementing European decisions on economic governance and the need for new development initiatives on the European level.
February 27, 2013