E. VENIZELOS: It is a great pleasure to welcome to Athens my colleague the Georgian Foreign Minister. We are linked to Georgia by historical, spiritual and religious ties. A few months ago, in Brussels, Foreign Minister Panjikidze and I had the opportunity to sign a memorandum of cooperation between the two countries’ Foreign Ministries regarding Georgia’s European preparation and the transfer of Greek know-how and experience.
We have many bilateral contracts already signed. We decided to activate them. Our talks were organized on two levels. First, on the level of EU-Georgian relations, given that our country holds the current Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Our goal is to complete the process for the signing of Georgia’s Association Agreement with the European Union – which was already initialed, in Vilnius – within the semester of the Hellenic Presidency, before the end of June, and we will achieve this, and it is our goal and choice, and it is a very important political act that underscores Georgia’s legitimate European aspirations.
We also talked about Georgia’s relations with NATO. A few days ago, in Brussels, the NATO-Georgia Council took place. As an old member of the Alliance, Greece perceives how important this perspective is to Georgia.
On a bilateral level, we stressed the existing ties, the longstanding Greek community in Georgia. The Georgian community in Greece. But we looked mainly at the Greek investments and the Greek business presence in Georgia, which now, with the signing of the Association Agreement, is gaining a much more stable legal framework, which we want to make optimum use of.
We attach very great importance to respect for and continuation of the Geneva Agreement processes with regard to Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
We also attach very great importance to the continuation of the EU mission to Georgia, which is now the only international mission there, and which must play its role. Greeks, too, are participating in this mission, and this is an additional tie that we have with Georgia.
Naturally, we also talked about the situation on an international and regional level. We talked about the crisis in Ukraine, the crisis in the relations between the West and Russia. The Georgian government has made a very important strategic choice. The choice of organized normalization of its relations with Russia, without neglecting its Euroatlantic aspirations. This is very important to us, because the crisis in Ukraine must be handled within the framework of international law, and that is why our number-one goal is de-escalation and respect for another agreement reached a few days ago, also in Geneva.
All of the agreements concluded in Geneva, on all the crises, on all the pending problems, must be implemented, of course, because Greek policy is a policy of principles that always follows the mainstream of European and Euroatlantic policy, and we want the core of our policy always to be the common positions of the European Union.
Our talks were extremely friendly and pleasant, and I think that, today, we shaped the conditions for a real deepening of our bilateral relations, of Greek-Georgian relations.
With these thoughts, I welcome my dear colleague, and I ask her to take the floor.
M. PANJIKIDZE: Thank you very much. I am glad to be here today in Athens, on my first visit to the Hellenic Republic. I would like to extend my gratitude to the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister Venizelos, for hosting me, regardless of the heavy agenda due to the current Hellenic Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
I would like to underline that our meeting today was very productive, that it will certainly contribute to further expansion of our cooperation in various dimensions. As the Minister already expressed, we have discussed the progress of the existing bilateral relations between Georgia and the Hellenic Republic, together with important regional issues. We have stressed the importance of exchanging high-level visits between our countries and expanding the economic and trade ties, as there is still a lot of space in this direction. And I invited Mr. Deputy Prime Minister to visit Georgia, but I don’t remember, you promised me to come, right?
EV. VENIZELOS: Yes, of course, with great pleasure, thank you.
M. PANJIKIDZE: Strong historical links between Georgian and Greek people, which we are proud of, give us special impetus to strengthen and promote each in various directions. In this regard, we have also discussed aspects related to bilateral cooperation in the field of education and culture, as we enjoy favorable relations in this dimension, and I was proud to present my colleague with Georgian translations of modern Greek literature.
Obviously, I agree with my colleague on Georgia’s European and Euroatlantic processes, as well as on the current situation in Georgia’s occupied regions. Hereby, I would like to express gratitude to the Hellenic Republic for supporting Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as its European and Euroatlantic aspirations.
The year 2014 has a special importance for enhancing EU-Georgia cooperation. Thus, we clearly made reference to the upcoming signature of the Association Agreement between Georgia and the European Union in June 2014. I am pleased to note that this very important event will take place during the Hellenic Presidency of the Council of the European Union. I am confident that the Greek government will play a crucial role in opening a new chapter of Georgia’s way towards Europe.
Once again, I would like to cordially thank my colleague, Mr. Venizelos, for his hospitality and support. Thank you very much.
E. VENIZELOS: Let me clarify that Madam Minister was kind enough to offer me two Georgian translations of two Greek literary works. One by Antonis Samarakis, and one by Iakovos Kampanellis, and I thanked her warmly, because this points up the importance that Georgia attaches to the Greek language and Greek literature, which is cultivated, by the way, at the University of Tbilisi, where there is a large Greek studies department.
JOURNALIST: My question concerns, first of all, both Ministers. Regarding the presence of Greek businesses in Ukraine, and a second question, if I might, for Mr. Venizelos: During these days, in particular, the issue of minorities is at the epicenter, and I would like you, if you can, to comment on the exclusion of Ms. Sabiha.
M. PANJIKIDZE: There are some Greek businesses in Georgia, but, as we discussed at our bilateral meeting, it is not enough for our economic cooperation – there is potential for more. I invited Mr. Deputy Prime Minister to visit Georgia with a business delegation to promote the possibilities of doing business in Georgia, because the DCFT, which is the integral part of the Association Agreement with the European Union, will open new perspectives for development of business relations with EU member-states. And we hope very much that this will make Georgia more attractive for direct foreign investors, and we are ready to promote our business possibilities.
By the way, Georgia has a very good ranking in World Bank ranking in easiness of doing business in the country. So, business is free from political pressure and it is a very good environment, business climate, in Georgia, and we are inviting everybody, all member-states, to come and to do business in Georgia.
The minorities, the Georgian Diaspora in this country is very big, 150,000 Georgians are living and working in this country, and I expressed my gratitude, because they enjoy very good conditions and a very good environment here. And the Greek minority in Georgia is not as big, unfortunately, as it was in the Soviet period, but the new Georgian government is doing everything to help them to have better conditions for living and working in Georgia.
E. VENIZELOS: I agree with Madam Minister on the first part of the question. If your question concerned the presence of foreign businesses in Ukraine, and not just in Georgia, I would like to add that we are encouraging our enterprises to remain in Ukraine and to contribute to the overcoming of the economic and development crisis in Ukraine, which is a very important parameter in the overall crisis the country is going through, because we want a stable Ukraine that moves on an equal footing in the international community. The economic crisis and the danger of its worsening is a major threat, and the EU and the international community must bear this very seriously in mind. And this is why I have, for some time now, personally come out in favor of the need to hold an international conference for confronting the economic crisis in Ukraine, beyond the agreement that has been signed with the International Monetary Fund.
The IMF is not the Marshall Plan for Ukraine. Nor is it the solution to the economic, social and development problem of the country as a whole – that is, including all of its regions.
On the question you asked regarding the candidacy of Ms. Sabiha Souleiman, although this does not concern my dear colleague’s visit, with her permission I would like to make a comment.
Greece treats the Muslim minority of Thrace as provided for by the Constitution, the Treaty of Lausanne, and international law in general. That is, it treats the minority based on very strict European standards.
It is of very great importance that we always stress that our fellow citizens, Greek citizens, Muslim by faith, who reside in Thrace, are, before anything else, fully equal Greek citizens who enjoy all political, social and civil rights. We want them to participate equally and actively in the country’s political, economic and social life. We want them to participate actively in all of the democratic political processes, in all of the elections. In this case, in the local, regional and European elections. The handling of these issues by the political parties cannot and must not be contingent on petty politics. The handling must be institutional, democratic, because this is, in the end, how they are handled on the national level: the national responsible handling of issues. Of course, in order to handle such serious issues, one must have the necessary knowledge, maturity, prudence.
JOURNALIST: Good morning, Deputy Prime Minister Venizelos. We have the official Eurostat results, because we mentioned investments and the economy – it is the big issue. Results that confirm the numbers for the primary surplus -- €3.4 billion, if I’m not mistaken. Is this a starting point for good news for the Greek economy? And I say this because we know when we entered the Memorandum, but we don’t know when we are exiting it. And whether this result is a first step towards our not having another memorandum. Thank you.
E. VENIZELOS: With my colleagues permission, I will answer, making an exception due to the importance of today’s Eurostat announcement. Today, Eurostat confirms a very great achievement of the Greek people, because the primary surplus is due to the sacrifices of the Greek people, the decision of Greek women and men to implement a difficult adjustment programme as the only sure solution for exiting the crisis and the Memorandum.
With the official confirmation of the primary surplus and Greece’s return to the markets, we have certification that Greece has turned a new page, that we are exiting the crisis and the Memorandum, and returning to the normalcy of a European country, robust, essentially equal within the European Union and the Eurozone.
I see that there are those who are disappointed, rather than sharing the joy of the Greek people. Because these things are not abstractions that are unrelated to the lives of citizens. They are linked to the concerns, the needs, the day-to-day lives of all Greek families. They have to do with unemployment, with the need for investments, the creation of new jobs. They are linked to the prospect for restoration of incomes.
So something very important is happening right now: in reality, we are seeing the turn towards the exit from the crisis. And we must bear in mind the real numbers. Real numbers means less the one-off expenditures made this year to support the Greek banking system, calculated only statistically in the deficit and the debt, while in reality these shouldn’t be taken into account, and that is why we have not only a primary surplus, but also an impressively low fiscal deficit, well below the 3% ceiling for Europe.
We have a fiscal deficit of 2.1%. We are again becoming a normal European country, and this means a lot for the cost of bank lending, borrowing costs for enterprises, for the potential to fund Greece’s real economy, and this is important.
And to all those who had the theory that we borrowed at high rates regarding the interest rates we have secured for the European loan, I say “thank you,” because they recognize the successful negotiations we carried out for low interest rates in 2012, but the interest rates are European, the IMF interest rates are fully comparable to the interest rates on the five-year bond, which the Greek economy issued with such success a few days ago.
So now we have the next step, which it confirmation of the sustainability of the Greek debt, which the market has already said is sustainable.
At this moment, there is a new horizon, and instead of everyone coming together so that we can move ahead, there are those who are hanging back for petty political reasons. It’s a shame. But they will be pressured by the results of the elections.
April 23, 2014