STAVROS DIMAS: Happy New Year! I hope 2012 is better than 2011, and that the foundations are laid for our country to be able to get back to recovery, to growth, to more jobs and reducing unemployment.
JOURNALIST: What did you talk about with the President?
STAVROS DIMAS: The President of the Republic and I had the opportunity to exchange views. His opinion, his advice and views are invaluable to me in shaping our policy. So, we discussed various current issues, and mainly our relations with neighbouring countries in the Western Balkans: the Foreign Ministry’s initiative for promoting cooperation on the accession efforts of the various countries in the Western Balkans and a meeting we are going to have in Thessaloniki in February.
JOURNALIST: Regarding Yilmaz’s recent statements on arson, did you make any demarches? Do you believe this will be enough for us to get some answers?
STAVROS DIMAS: We are waiting to see what answers we get. This is an issue that resurfaced in the news due to the statements of a former prime minister, and the Greek people are without question very sensitive to this issue. We want good, excellent relations with our neighbour Turkey, but these kinds of actions, whenever they took place, unquestionably poison the climate if they are not cleared up.
JOURNALIST: Yesterday, Mr. Papoulias talked about the attack Mr. Papademos is under. Does Mr. Papademos have the support of the three parties making up the government coalition in order not to come under attack?
STAVROS DIMAS: I think that Mr. Papademos’s government has the broadest possible support from the parliamentary parties; he has parliamentary support from over 25 MPs and broad acceptance among the Greek people. The Greek people have based their hopes on the success of this government, and we have a duty to do whatever is in our power to make this government successful.
JOURNALIST: The issue of intervention in the …
STAVROS DIMAS: What I told the President of the Republic is that the Greek people are very sensitive about the issue of Orthodoxy, but this issue that has arisen is not within the responsibilities of the Foreign Ministry. Thank you very much. Many happy returns.
January 2, 2012