Below are Deputy Foreign Minister and Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos’ responses during his interview with Euronews TV:
1) Greece is taking on the Presidency of the Council for the fifth time since acceding to the EU, and it is doing so following the dramatic experience of the crisis of the past four years. It is a wonderful chance for Greece to show the face of a member state of the EU that is equal, that is sovereign, that directs the proceedings of the Council in the name of the 28 member states.
The period of our Presidency will be shorter, parliamentarily speaking, because we are in the run-up to the elections for the new European Parliament. However, it will be politically more important and intensive, because the first six months of 2014 coincide with the great pan-European debate on the future of Europe.
We need a new narrative that is more attractive to European citizens, more optimistic and secure for households, and mainly for the younger generation, who, in many countries, think that Europe means austerity policies, unemployment, reduced incomes. We have to talk again about the Europe of culture, of history, of democracy, of rule of law, of the European social state; the Europe of growth, of innovation, of people who have a historical conscience and aspire to prosperity for everyone.
2) The first priority of the Hellenic Presidency is the first priority of European societies: growth, job-creation, protection of the social dimension in Europe.
Our second priority, which is linked to the first, is the deepening of the economic union, economic governance in the EU and the Eurozone. So, we are moving towards the banking union. It is important that major decisions have been taken. Neither the single supervisory mechanism nor the single resolution mechanism will suffice, however. We also need a single deposit guarantee mechanism in Europe, so that the weaker countries of the South or the periphery are not burdened by higher interest rates, and at the same time, the countries of the North can provide more security for citizens’ deposits.
Now, Greece, of course, is at the same time struggling to exit the crisis and the Memorandum. And it is doing so with great success, because it can show impressive fiscal results. In the last 3.5 years, Greece has carried out the largest fiscal adjustment ever achieved in the history of western economies. We started, in 2009, with a primary deficit on the order of 12%, and we now have a primary budget that, in terms of structural surplus, without taking in to account the recession circumstances, comes to 6.5%. We are the best country in Europe in terms of primary results, and one of the best in the world. Our nominal surplus is better than that of countries like Sweden, and our structural is better than that of countries like Singapore. So we have a foundation that enables us to talk as friends, partners with the other member states and with the IMF and the ECB, to shape the terms of our definitive exit from the crisis, without anyone losing, and to the common benefit of everyone, and without burdening any European taxpayer with even a single euro for Greece.
3) We have to capitalize on all the European policies. The European Council has already decided on many things, particularly with regard to youth unemployment. It has decided on many new measures to bolster SMEs and the real economy. We have at our disposal the various resources of the European Social Fund.
The thing is for all the political decisions, the political statements, to transform as fast as possible into actions, without bureaucratic hold-ups. Speed and consistency are of very great importance, not just on the national level – because we are making great efforts to improve the performance of Public Administration – but also on the European/Community level.
We also want to work together with the European Commission, which is the key organ for Europe, and with the European Investment Bank, in order to impart the momentum that all the countries need – not just the countries in crisis, in adjustment programmes, or at risk of being put into an adjustment programme, but all of Europe. The EU as a whole needs a new model for production, growth and competitiveness, so that we can escape the risk of recession or a stagnant situation that is close to zero growth.
4) The four previous Hellenic Presidencies were identified with the major enlargement decisions. Greece was very involved in the move from the Europe of 10 to the Europe of 12, of 15, and, later, of 27.
The Western Balkans and their accession to the European Union, their Euroatlantic perspective, was a major priority of our last Presidency, in 2003, which culminated in the Thessaloniki-Halkidiki Summit Meeting and the Thessaloniki Agenda. Now, all of this is under way. It is important for the Greek Presidency that the Intergovernmental Conference on Serbia’s accession to the EU will be starting on 21 January. This fuels and supports the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, which is of historic importance.
We have also come out in favor of granting Albania candidate-country status.In the end, the Council decided, due to the stances of other countries, that we should re-examine this matter – positively – in June 2014, during the last month of the Hellenic Presidency. So we have a very important enlargement package.
5) The Greek government is a government of cooperation between two parties: the conservative party of New Democracy, which belongs to the European People’s Party, and the socialist party, Pasok, which belongs to the Party of European Socialists. It is a government based on a platform agreement of national responsibility; it is completely stable.
Our goal is to complete the four years and, mainly, to ensure the definitive exit from the crisis and the Memorandum; that is, to restore the dignity, sovereignty and institutional equality of our country. In this sense, Greece has a national strategy and will follow it through till the end.
January 3, 2014