Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias made the following statements to ERT and journalist G. Syriopoulos after the completion of today’s meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) in Brussels:
JOURNALIST: Mr. Minister, does today’s EU-Turkey intergovernmental conference essentially open the dialogue on the accession negotiations?
N. KOTZIAS: The dialogue on the accession negotiations has been open for some time now – for decades, I would say. Today we opened the discussion on the new chapters, and the EU responded to the agreements of 29 November, and now it is time for Turkey to meet the commitments it needs to meet in European law and the European processes. I think the most important thing today is that a process is being opened with Serbia. It is for its accession to the EU. It is a process for which we fought for a long time, and that is why, as an exception – I mean it isn’t usually done – I will go, as a Minister, to watch and welcome it.
JOURNALIST: With regard to the relationship with Turkey, was there a discussion of how this agreement will be monitored?
N. KOTZIAS: No. Today we had a luncheon with Turkey, and what we discussed was the European, Turkish and other views on Iraq, Syria and developments in general in the Middle East.
JOURNALIST: Ahead of tomorrow’s announcement from the European Commission on the proposal Mr. Timmermans is making for a European Coastguard …
N. KOTZIAS: I have told the European organs that they are rushing a great deal on certain things, and we are trying – I would say this in quotation marks, at least – to solve certain problems ‘on the fly’. The problems have to be resolved in a democratic manner, within the framework of the treaties. We have said that the process and regulation for Frontex can certainly change, but any change must be in line with articles 72 and 79 of the Treaty on the European Union, which prioritizes each member state’s sovereign interests with regard to defending its security and the immigration issue.
December 14, 2015