Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos hosted a luncheon today, Tuesday, 8 July, in honor of the national, major and silver sponsors, the communications sponsors and supporters of the Hellenic Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Below is the transcript of Mr. Venizelos’ speech.
D. KARAMITSOS-TZIRAS: Mr. President, Mr. Minister, Secretaries General, ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the Office of the Hellenic Presidency, I want to welcome you here today, and before I invite the Deputy Prime Minister to address you, I want to say that together with us today are the representatives of the sponsors of the Hellenic Presidency: the national sponsor, Piraeus Bank, the major sponsors, Kosmocar, OTE-Cosmote, Volkswagen Bank, National Bank, Alpha Bank, Eurobank, Microsoft, the silver sponsors, Myrsini Kontou, Goldair Handling, Hewlett Packard, and the supporters, Coca Cola 3E, Pepsico, Tasty, Piraiki Microbrewery, Lux Marlefekas, Kri-Kri, Central VIP Services, Coco-Mat, Jet Oil, Attikes Diadromes, ELBISCO, Speedy Carwash, Gregorys Foodservice Group, Folie-Folie, Hellenic Recycling Company, and Chanos. Also, representatives of the communication sponsors of the Presidency; that is, of the Athens International Airport and of Aegean Airlines.
Mr. President, I ask you to take the floor.
E. VENIZELOS: I thank Ambassador Tziras, the head of the Office of the Hellenic Presidency, for his introduction and, mainly, for the announcement, once again, of the names of the national sponsor, the major sponsors, and the other sponsors.
It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the headquarters of the Foreign Ministry, in the hall where we usually host official luncheons for my counterparts and the visiting delegations of other countries.
We think that this small but friendly room, with a view of the Acropolis and a large section of Athens, enables our visitors to get an authentic picture of the City of Athens, from on high, and at the same time hold the talks they need to hold with us. We didn’t want to hold this meeting at Zappeion, because it was there that we welcomed you and honored you and declared the closing of the Hellenic Presidency, in a modest ceremony last Monday. We wanted to have you here, close to us, where we work, because the Foreign Ministry, which is responsible for coordinating all of our activities abroad and our European policy, feels that it has gained a special tie with you.
So I want to express to you again, personally and on behalf of the Prime Minister and the whole government, our profound gratitude to all the sponsors of the Hellenic Presidency for your great contribution to the Presidency’s successful conclusion. This success of the Presidency is also your success.
I explained at the closing ceremony and at the press conference on the conclusion of the Hellenic Presidency what I consider success. The great challenge was for Greece to function as a normal European state, to function while exercising its rights as an institutionally equal member of the European Union and the Eurozone, to remind everyone that that is what we are. Because, unfortunately, over the past four years we have appeared as those who borrow, as those who create problems. That is not the case.
There are many ‘genetic’ flaws in the Eurozone. There are many structural problems of the European Union and of the EMU that have trapped us, trapped the countries of the Periphery, the countries of the South.
To a very great extent, Greece functioned and is functioning as a laboratory for testing the endurance and stability of these materials; as a laboratory in which the ideas and proposals for the necessary changes are generated. Everything we are discussing right now. The need for a smarter interpretation of the Stability and Growth Pact. The need for the completion of Eurozone and European Union economic governance.
The first priority, which is the Banking Union. The great success of the Hellenic Presidency, which is, among other things, the political agreement on the Single Resolution Mechanism and the Single Resolution Fund for banks. The debate on the need to complete the Banking Union, not just with the Single Resolution and Supervisory Mechanisms, but with real mechanisms for guaranteeing deposits. All of these, in reality – and after a delay of decades – fill gaps in the departure point of the EMU.
And thus we handled the issues during the Hellenic Presidency, until, in the end, we have scored an impressive list of achievements. We completed 676 dossiers in a complex legislative process in the European Union, amidst difficult trilogues between the Council, the Commission and the European Parliament. We brought another 20 or so dossiers further on, to be taken over by the Italian Presidency.
We pointed up all of our major priorities – not just the most national priority, which was the comprehensive maritime policy and the European Maritime Security Policy, but also those priorities linked with the longstanding goals of growth, employment, protection of borders, management of migration flows.
As you know, this Presidency was the fifth we have held as a country. Of course, the Presidency has now become smaller and more modest institutionally, because a lot has been shifted onto the permanent presidencies. You no longer have the impressive culmination of the Presidency, which used to be the European Council that was held by the country holding the Presidency, as we did in Rhodes, in Corfu, in Thessaloniki, Halkidiki. But he Presidency is still critical. It has added institutional potential.
As you know, we held 161 meetings in Greece. Of these, 21 meetings were on the ministerial level. At Zappeion, in particular, which was the center of the Presidency, we hosted a total of over 12,000 members of delegations and more than 3,000 representatives and technicians of media outlets. We achieved all this, in large part, thanks to you. Because it is not just the total sum of sponsorships, which is close to €3 million. It is that there was this public-private collaboration, this mobilization of the market, this willingness – this patriotism, I might say – and, of course, the flexibility.
Because it is one thing one thing to use the capabilities of sponsors according to the rules of the market, and another to move the heavy machinery of the public sector. This way, you save time and money; you gain efficiency. That that is how we succeeded in meeting very strict timelines. There are always little miracles at the last moment. It is also very significant that you helped us to overcome problems in our cooperation not just with Europe, but also with Greek public administration.
And we, for our part, capitalized on the extensive institutional memory of the Foreign Ministry and Greek public administration as a whole, due to the previous four, now five, Presidencies. We mobilized all of the human resources of the Greek public sector, public administration, and of course we capitalized as much as we could on our cooperation with the private sector.
We tried to do all of this as inexpensively as possible. The budget was set at €50 million, based on the budgets of the previous and coming Presidencies, which are at significantly higher levels than €50 million, because the European Union itself put pressure on us to have an adequate budget. In the end we spent just 1/3 of the budget, and the rest will be returned to the Finance Ministry. This is something extremely rare. So the Greek Presidency became an example of economic, rational and effective management.
We thus closed the mouths of many prophets of doom, and so we feel the need to honor you and thank all of you today. And I ask that you convey our gratitude to the boards and personnel of the groups and companies that you represent. It is very important for society, the market, to celebrate such a success together with the public sector.
Now, as I have been moving in this circle for many years, as a Minister, and I have experienced the three previous Greek Presidencies as a Minister, and many other Presidencies – because this baton is passed every six months – I know that the kind words we hear are, in large part, a matter of convention, a diplomatic and intergovernmental practice. They are, let us say, a matter of civility. They encourage the countries, the diplomatic services, the Permanent Representations, the Foreign and European Affairs Ministries, and, in any case, civility dictates that kind words be spoken.
However, we know, we have the ability to sense – we have the experience to be able to tell where simple politeness ends and where the more substantial, genuine, spontaneous appraisals start. And I want to assure you that what is being said in the organs and in the halls of the European Union is much more that the conventional civility. It is a real acceptance of the success of the Hellenic Presidency.
And from this point of view, I want to invite you to once again take pleasure with us in this result, for any significance it might have. This doesn’t alleviate the concerns or sacrifices of the Greek people, but it is important to regain the country’s dignity and pride, because it is in this way that we create the conditions to regain our sovereignty – our fiscal sovereignty, in particular, which has without doubt been drastically curtailed in recent years.
Fortunately, the core of the country’s foreign policy and security and defence policy has not been compromised. Perhaps because everyone throughout the world knows that when you apply more pressure than you should on a people in crisis, they will react strongly to safeguard the core of their pride, their independence and their dignity.
Thank you very much.
July 8, 2014