Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias made the following statements to the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) after today's meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council:
JOURNALIST: Mr. Minister, what items were on the agenda of today's Council meeting?
N. KOTZIAS: Today we talked in great detail about many regions that are in a state of conflict. This morning, we started with Ukraine. We ascertained the need for the reforms and the Minsk agreement to be implemented. We continued with a discussion of Libya. Here I made the observation that a lot of things would be better if the destabilising interventions hadn't been carried out. We argued that the EU needs to do everything it can to help the forces of western Libya reach an understanding with those of eastern Libya -- that is, the government of Tripoli, where we will be reopening our Embassy -- with the forces led by secular marshal Haftar. Additionally, in the afternoon we continued -- for the first time, I would say -- with a very, very creative discussion on Egypt. We decided to invite the Egyptian Foreign Minister to our meeting on 6 March, here in Brussels again, and to change the decision of 2013 -- which was hostile to Egypt -- and open up a process of reassociation between the EU and Egypt. Finally, we talked about the Middle East and the need to stabilise the region, as well as about the need for there to be security for all sides and for us to support the creation of two states.
JOURNALIST: This issue brings us closer to the Aegean, where we have had tensions of late. And I don't know whether those tensions have subsided or if there are ...
N. KOTZIAS: We didn't talk here today about Turkey or the Aegean. It is well known that, for a year and a half now, I have characterized Turkey as a restless power, and that is how it should be confronted. We should neither ignore or fail to take measures to hinder the manifestation of this restlessness, but nor should we overreact, due to the fact that many of Turkey's restless actions have to do with its domestic affairs and domestic controversy.
JOURNALIST: The issue of the Cyprus talks is still pending. You met with Mr. Eide last Friday, and it is rumoured that we may have a continuation of the Conference within March.
N. KOTZIAS: Yes, in the second half of March we will probably have a meeting among the Foreign Ministers of the guarantor powers, the President of the Republic of Cyprus and the representative of the Turkish Cypriot community.
JOURNALIST: Your meetings with the UN and Mr. Eide?
N. KOTZIAS: They are always very interesting and last many hours.
February 6, 2017