E. VENIZELOS: It is a great pleasure to welcome my good friend the Foreign Minister of Romania, Titus Corlatean, to Thessaloniki.
Greece and Romania maintain an exceptional level of bilateral relations. We cooperate productively in many sectors of common interest, and today we had the opportunity to reconfirm the excellent level of our relations.
During this semester, Greece holds the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, and my Romanian counterpart is well aware of the priorities and achievements of our Presidency. But Romania, as well, holds its very successful Chairmanship of the South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP), which is the regional cooperation platform on foreign policy and defence issues. I was very pleased to accept my colleagues invitation to participate in the SEECP Ministerial in Bucharest this June.
Both sides attach very great importance to our trilateral cooperation with the participation of Bulgaria. Shortly, we will have the trilateral ministerial meeting.
Ahead of tomorrow’s Ministerial Conference of the EU countries with the Western Balkan countries, we in fact reaffirmed our common position on the Euroatlantic perspective of all the countries of the Western Balkans.
Naturally, we talked about the developments in Ukraine, ahead of this Monday’s EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting, and we put particular emphasis on the energy sector, because the prevailing idea throughout the Balkans, throughout Southeast Europe, is the idea of connectivity, as our goal is the functioning of an integrated regional energy market.
With these thoughts, I again welcome my dear colleague with great pleasure and affection, and a ask him to take the floor.
T. CORLATEAN: Thank you. First of all I would like to say that I accepted with great pleasure the invitation of my distinguished colleague and friend, Deputy Prime Minister Evangelos Venizelos. It is, first of all, a bilateral meeting between the Foreign Ministers of Greece and Romania, not only friendly countries, but also important actors in Southeast Europe, with important and coordinated positions within the European Union.
And of course with the Greek Presidency of the European Council on one side, and our Romanian Chairmanship in Office of the Southeast European Cooperation Process.
I am speaking about a relationship which is very solid, with constant meetings. As a matter of fact, my previous visit was in Athens a few months ago, when we established to have this European Union Presidency and Romanian Chairmanship-in-Office of the SEECP meeting in Thessaloniki. It is a European symbol, but also it is also a good Balkan, Southeast European symbol of very good cooperation.
And I want to express, before mentioning briefly some other points, the appreciation that the Romanian Government is giving to the Greek Presidency of the European Union for the very good performance in the Presidency, for the very good progress and achievements in important areas.
First of all economic dossiers of the European Union on the economic and monetary Union, on the single resolution system, but also on some specific points related, for instance, to the European path of the Republic of Moldova, which Romania [supports and sees as very important]. It was during the Greek Presidency of the European Union that, first of all, the free movement of Moldova citizens became a reality on 28 April, and very soon there will be the signature of the association agreement. And this is also thanks to the leadership of Greece of the European Union Council.
Of course we discussed regional aspects. One of the key topics is political cooperation in supporting the European enlargement with the countries in the region. Both Romania and Greece are supportive of the European process in Southeast Europe.
We have discussed of course the strong interest related to energy security, and here I also want to underline the interest of having a regional integrated market of energy, with the contribution also of my country, of Romania, in what is the offering of different sources or resources of energy. And I think we have the same interest in developing these corridors and interconnections.
Of course we discussed the last developments in eastern Europe, related to Ukraine, and on Monday we will have the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels, and we will make the assessment of the latest developments.
I can tell, after reading the latest news related to Ukraine, that we can welcome, and I can welcome, as a positive direction the recent declaration of the Russian President as concerns the interest of giving time to the political process of dialogue inside Ukraine and the appeal for postponement of the referendum, which was set previously for 11 May in some regions of the eastern Ukraine. I think the political process must come first, and not military actions and intentions.
And of course there is the trilateral meeting which is to follow right now, after our meeting with our Bulgarian colleague and tomorrow’s meeting between the European Union and Balkan states, which is of course on the key elements of the Greek Presidency, and we are very supportive of having this dialogue and very supportive of the European process of Southeast Europe as such.
Thank you.
JOURNALIST: [D. Botonis, Greek Public Television] Mr. Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Minister, as you referred at length to the energy sector. Energy is a factor that impacts the economy internationally and impacts states, countries, peoples. And we see this with the TAP.
Can you tell us about Romania’s role in the new energy landscape and the role it will play in the coming time?
E. VENIZELOS: Actually this is a question for you. It is a great opportunity to present briefly Romanian energy policy on the region.
T. CORLATEAN: OK, I will try to be brief, saying first of all the principle of diversifying the sources and the resources, and by that enlarging and guaranteeing independence of the energy security of the countries, European countries, and especially in Southeast Europe. This is the main principle.
This is why Romania is very supportive also of respecting each European Union member state for using its own natural resources and also to develop the appropriate mix of energy. That might include – that depends on the specific situation – might include of course the classic sources of energy, might include gas, also shale gas, which is relevant in our situation in Romania.
It might include also the development of the Black Sea regarding self-access to new resources, which is the case in the case of Romania, and this is why we are extremely supportive of developing an integrated regional market.
That means inter-connectors for gas but also for electricity, which will offer the possibility of different countries having different resources, circulating the energy for those who need it, and of course at a cheaper price. And this is the main aim.
Of course, everybody can have access to various other sources. In the case of Greece, the TAP was relevant. In the case of Romania, there might be some other resources, but in the end if we can advance, and it’s an old idea that was mentioned by Minister Venizelos many years ago, to have an integrated regional market, this will offer the possibility of development for different countries.
E. VENIZELOS: I just want to make a statement too, in reference to what President Putin said today. We believe that this statement is a step towards de-escalation.
Anything that helps towards de-escalation, any effort that contributes to the finding and implementation of a solution that includes all the political and social forces, all the regions, all the ethnic and linguistic groups, is welcome, because we must avoid civil war. The situation in Ukraine must be stabilized.
May 8, 2014