E. VENIZELOS: My meeting with the new Italian Foreign Minister was useful, practical, productive. We agree on everything. The Italian Presidency in the second half of this year, is in effect a continuation of the priorities of the Hellenic Presidency. The Mediterranean Year 2014 is underway.
Europe’s societies, after all, have common concerns. They want growth, investments, new jobs. They want protection of the social state. They want solidarity. They cannot bear up under policies of austerity and unemployment.
Moreover, it is very important to complete the Banking Union, because the banks are the motor force for investment, growth, new jobs.
Immigration, migratory flows, the protection of our borders, is also something very important. Not just for humanitarian reasons, but also for security reasons. Both are very critical.
And of course maritime policy is for us, as Mediterranean countries, a priority. This is connected with maritime zones, the exclusive economic zone, the continental shelf in the Mediterranean. It is connected with the environment, with energy and – from the perspective that we are also discussing – the issue of the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons, because the new Italian Foreign Minister has environmental sensitivities, and she does not want the Mediterranean marine environment to be compromised in any way.
Naturally, we talked about Ukraine. The big issue is for the transitional government to function inclusively, for all the forces and regions in Ukraine to be expressed. For all the minorities and ethnic groups to feel that they have rights of a European level. This concerns the Greek community in Mariupol, in Odessa and in other regions, wherever we have concentrated Greek communities. And of course it is of very great importance that we find a solution to the current and very acute economic problem Ukraine is facing – a solution not in words and statements, but with economic assistance.
And this can be done only through the cooperation of the European Union, the United States, Russia and organizations like the IMF – but not just the IMF, because Ukraine must be able to bear up under the political and economic measures that are taken as well; to bear these measures as a society.
JOURNALIST: Just one question: You agreed with your Italian counterpart with regard to the European parameters. Does there need to be more flexibility in their implementation?
E. VENIZELOS: Obviously, Italy – which is a major industrial country, a major economy, participating in the eight largest economies in the world, in the G8 – also has the same problems as Greece, without having taken a loan, without having taken the assistance that Greece has taken. So we are well aware of how societies react when you are forced to implement austerity policies that produce recession and unemployment. From this point of view, Italy’s position is always very, very critical for the shaping of positive European power relations.
February 28, 2014