D. AVRAMOPOULOS: I would like to welcome Pasok President Vaggelis Venizelos to the Ministry once more, and thank him for a truly interesting meeting.
As you know, today’s meeting took place within the framework of the briefings aimed at keeping the political parties abreast of our foreign policy issues.
As I said, we had a truly interesting discussion of the important matters being dealt with by Greek diplomacy and in our country’s foreign relations, and a very productive exchange of views. In light of Pasok’s participation in the government, you can see that this is very useful and strengthens the government’s work.
The framework for our talks is determined by the fact that, particularly in the current state of affairs, it is vital that we achieve the highest possible degree of understanding on our national issues and, more generally, on foreign policy issues.
The crisis our homeland is currently being called upon to confront with resolve, having already achieved significant results, is clearly not a purely domestic matter. In fact, it demands that we build alliances and establish channels of communication and cooperation with our partners throughout the world.
it is absolutely clear that, in order to forge long-term alliances internationally, it is of catalytic importance that all our collocutors see that there is consensus on our national strategic goals among the government, its partners, and others still.
In closing, I want to underscore that the economic crisis cannot be used as a pretext for introversion in our foreign policy. The aim of the initiatives we are undertaking is for our homeland to once again find its place in its geopolitical environment through planning and strategy. It is at this difficult time that we must appear strong and united, defending and promoting Greek interests on the global stage. We need to exploit every opportunity that presents itself, and to create opportunities ourselves.
Again, I thank Pasok President Venizelos for his presence here at the Ministry today, and I give him the floor.
E. VENIZELOS: I thank the Foreign Minister for his warm welcome, and mainly for the substantial, in-depth briefing on the whole range of our national issues. It was a briefing that started with a one-on-one meeting, and we were then joined by our associates.
Our national power has multiple parameters. At no point during the past three years has the economic crisis impacted our foreign policy. But now we need to use the turnaround the country is making towards exiting the crisis; we need to capitalize on the perspective of a Greece that is self-reliant again. A Greece that is once again an equal in the Eurozone and the EU, as leverage for strengthening our national strategy, making our presence seen and felt again in the European Union, in Southeast Europe, in the Mediterranean: on all the fronts where Greece can benefit and play an important role while defending its national strategy.
The national strategy must be based on the broadest possible consensus. This consensus goes well beyond the boundaries of the three parties supporting the present government and comprising the parliamentary majority.
These three parties have formulated a clear framework for exercising foreign policy. But we take this opportunity today to call on the opposition forces to promote this national strategy through understanding, cooperation, unity. It is absolutely necessary in our international contacts – whether they take place in Greece or abroad – to speak in a unified manner, defending a unified foreign policy that has both an economic and a political dimension.
The world is changing, and the interrelations in our region are changing. Change involves risk, but it also presents major opportunities. And we need to seize these opportunities.
Greece mustn’t feel traumatized. We need to have a strong sense of dignity that inspires us in the exercising of our foreign policy. And all Greeks need to believe that it is our concomitant patriotic duty to assist in rehabilitating our national power.
Thank you very much.
January 22, 2013