E. VENIZELOS: Your Highness, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am very pleased, because – on behalf of the Greek government and the Hellenic Presidency of the Council of the European Union – I am welcoming to Athens, today, very important personages from the Arab world and the European Union.
I would like to express my gratitude to the Economist, to its Conference department, for organizing yet another very important event, another important event in Greece, in Athens, under the auspices of the Hellenic Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Today’s meeting is a wonderful foreword to a very major political event that we are preparing as the Presidency of the European Union, in cooperation with the EU High Representative and Vice President of the Commission, Catherine Ashton, on 10 and 11 June, a few weeks from now: The Ministerial Meeting of the 28 EU member states and the member states of the Arab League.
We are pleased that this very important Ministerial Meeting is being hosted in Greece, instead of in Brussels or Luxembourg, on the occasion of the Hellenic Presidency, because we believe that Athens, that Greece, is a very suitable venue, particularly at this time, for the meeting of the European Union and the Arab League, at the high political level of Foreign Ministers.
As you know, one of the Hellenic Presidency’s most important priorities – which will, I am certain, continue to be a priority during the Italian Presidency during the next semester of this year – is to point up the maritime dimension of the European Union: Horizontal maritime policy, which focuses the interest of Europe and European policy on the Mediterranean, which is the common sea of Europe and the Arab world.
The problems of security and migration flows, as well as, mainly, opportunities for growth that can restore the Mediterranean’s peaceful dimension. So we are very pleased, as Greece and as the Hellenic Presidency of the Council of the European Union, to be hosting this meeting today, because we are thus reinvigorating and underscoring the truly close ties Greece has with the Arab world. Relations that are not just cultural and historical, but also political, economic and developmental.
We are also pleased that, within the framework of the Greek Presidency, and in cooperation with six other Mediterranean EU member states, we put together the Med Group, which met for the first time a few days ago, in Alicante, Spain.
The Foreign Ministers of Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Spain, Italy, Portugal and France had the opportunity in Alicante for an in-depth discussion with the Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean, to decide on and undertake a joint initiative for the revival of the Ministerial Meetings of the Union for the Mediterranean, because we believe that only through strong political support can we capitalize on this excellent tool, which is a tool at the disposal of the European Union and the Arab world.
A few weeks ago, the EU-Africa Summit was held in Brussels, and there we had the opportunity – as Greece and as the Hellenic Presidency of the Council of the European Union – to hold a large number of bilateral meetings, which we will use as a springboard for strengthening the European and Greek presence in Africa.
And we are especially pleased – and I stress this – at the presence of His Highness, because Greece maintains close political and economic ties with all of the Gulf counties, with the Gulf Cooperation Council. We attach very great importance to this cooperation, just as we naturally attach great importance to the role of the Gulf countries in the stabilization of the wider Middle East region, of North Africa, and of the Mediterranean and its European side.
Our Presidency’s goal in the two months remaining is to facilitate and accelerate the relations between the European Union and the Arab world. There is a continuously rising trend in bilateral trade, and we see it as very important that substantial negotiations move ahead on the conclusion of agreements like the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) Agreements, because we believe that these constitute a very useful tool for promoting these relations.
But the fundamental problem is always the political problem, the problem of security, including the energy security dimension. The European Union – not just as a single market, but as a political entity on the international map – realizes the importance of its relations with the Arab world, from this perspective.
I would like to take this opportunity to inform you, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, that the Greece that is welcoming you today, the Greece that will be welcoming the Foreign Ministers of the Arab League member states in a few weeks, is another Greece. It is the Greece that has started to emerge from the crisis, after eight years of recession, with major negative social repercussions, like the increase in unemployment. But Greece can now show impressive fiscal and structural achievements.
Greece can now show an impressive primary surplus, the largest in the European Union, which, as a structural primary surplus – without taking into account one-off measures – is the best in the world; better even than that of Singapore.
Our fiscal deficit, including the cost of servicing the public debt, is well below the European ceiling of 3% of GDP. Greece now presents a banking system that is fully recapitalized, strong, ready to help Greece’s real economy on its return to positive growth rates. We are pleased that strong Arab capital funds are among the many sources of private capital that supported Greece, that gave Greece a vote of confidence, participating in the recapitalization of the Greek banking system.
As a country, Greece is now showing all the marks of long-term sustainability, and this concerns its public debt, of which the cost of servicing is very limited, with 80% being held by institutional partners rather than by the markets – a unique trait.
The markets know this. They are aware that the debt is sustainable, and that is why they safely supported Greece when, a few days ago, the country returned in an impressive manner to the international money markets, with a new five-year bond that was issued at an interest rate and yields lower than those we had before the crisis in 2010.
Greece is also moving ahead decisively with the various measures for modernizing the structures of public administration and the market. It is moving ahead resolutely with the privatizations, not as the selling off of public assets, but as an opportunity for investments and growth.
And we are pleased that very important Arab capital funds are participating in this process, with the two most salient investments being in the sector of tourism and housing development, which are the well-known Astera hotel complex, in Vouliagmeni, and the former airport of Hellenikon, which is being transformed into the largest park in Europe.
You are very well aware that the energy sector is always of vital importance to us, due to our key geographical position. This concerns not only the new Trans Adriatic Pipeline, the TAP, which will carry Azeri natural gas to western Europe via Greece. It also concerns to a very great extent liquefied natural gas, given that the facility we have at Revithoussa, a small island adjacent to Athens, is an impressive advantage not just for Greece, but for all of southeastern Europe.
We are pleased that we have before us the potential to do many things together in the tourism sector. We are pleased that Greek construction firms are present in the Arab countries, participating in very important infrastructure projects. We are pleased that we are moving ahead with many Arab countries – starting with the Gulf countries – on the agreements on protecting investments and avoidance of double taxation, which are the basic legal tools for facilitating our economic and commercial relations.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the European Union is currently focusing on the crisis in Ukraine, on what we call the Eastern Partnership. But no one can underrate the ongoing and long-term importance of the Southern Neighbourhood, towards which many European Unions are being and must be channeled.
We want the Arab Spring, which filled us with hope, to come to completion as a real spring. We know how great the pending problems are. But we have here today three personages who not only know the situation, but can also contribute decisively, practically, politically to confronting the huge pending problems.
Greece participates in the European mainstream. It is an old member of the European Union and a very old member of NATO. Greece joined the EU in 1981, and NATO in 1952. It has its own national priorities, honoring them with regard to the Arab world – we want the huge, unprecedented humanitarian crisis in Syria to come to an end.
We want the Geneva II process to be capitalized on, and we express our deep appreciation to Lakhdar Brahimi. We want to see the implementation of the roadmap in Egypt, which is a country close to us due to the presence of the Greek community, the Patriarchate of Alexandria, the Monastery of Saint Catherine in Sinai, and because Greece is a major foreign investor in Egypt.
We want the situation in Libya to be organized and controlled, to avert the danger of state collapse an disintegration. We are pleased at the positive developments in Tunisia. We want to capitalize on all of our relations to once again make this space a space of peace and development.
We don’t want to see the momentum lost in the Middle East. We believe in the two-state solution. A few days ago, we hosted, here in Athens, an important preparatory meeting between Israelis and Palestinians, and we are always ready to provide our good offices on our level.
I also remind you that, at this time, a window of opportunity has opened in Cyprus, thanks to the initiatives of President Anastasiades, and we hope there will be a solution, always within the framework of respect for international law and the European acquis.
So we are glad that the cultural, historical, sentimental and economic conditions exist for us to deepen and strengthen the relations between Greece and the Arab world – the relations between Europe and the Arab world.
The Greek government is committed to this end, and I want to believe that today’s meeting and the Ministerial Meeting in June will function as a springboard for us to achieve our common goal.
Thank you.
May 5, 2014