At today’s Ministerial Conference on the Western Balkans, which was hosted by the Austrian Foreign Ministry, in Vienna, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos presented the priorities of the Hellenic Presidency of the Council of the European Union regarding the accession perspective of the countries of the Western Balkans. Following the Conference, Mr. Venizelos held a joint press conference with the Italian and Austrian Foreign Ministers, F. Mogherini and S. Kurz, respectively.
This evening, Mr. Venizelos will travel on to Warsaw, where he will represent Greece at the celebrations of the 25th anniversary of Polish Freedom Day, as well as at the award ceremony for the Solidarity Prize, which will be attended by a number of heads of state and government.
Below are Mr. Venizelos’ statements at the joint press conference in Vienna:
"I would like to congratulate my Austrian colleague on the hosting of this Conference, just one month after the Hellenic Presidency’s EU-Western Balkans Ministerial Conference in Thessaloniki.
I want to start by pointing up the dramatic situation in the region following last month’s floods. We need to coordinate our efforts under the EU Commission, so that we can show effective solidarity with the flood victims, as there can be no more decisive proof of our interest in the region than the provision of assistance and relief to the peoples of Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia.
Our presence here is proof of our shared longstanding commitment to the European perspective of Western Balkans.
Last month in Thessaloniki – 10 years after the adoption of the historic Thessaloniki agenda – we had the opportunity to reiterate and revitalize our interest in EU enlargement and to reaffirm the EU’s commitment to the region’s European perspective.
And of course we also saw the countries of the Western Balkans reaffirm their own determination and commitment to carry through with all the necessary efforts.
All of us here today believe in the transformative power of the accession process, in the importance of safeguarding the credibility of the process.
Specific challenges – notably in the fields of rule of law, protection of fundamental rights, regional cooperation, good neighbourly relations, and economic governance – are vital steps towards better focusing and managing our collective efforts.
The Greek Presidency has focused on the management of the individual dossiers of candidates and potential candidates in the region. I had the opportunity, this past February, during my trip to Western Balkans, to discuss all these issues in depth with the leaderships of Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Kosovo, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
I am pleased that the Greek Presidency is not alone in promoting the Western Balkan accession perspective, and I give the floor to my Italian colleague, who will be leading the Italian Presidency’s efforts in this vital area".
JOURNALIST: Question on immigration
E. VENIZELOS: "Immigration flows are a top priority of the Greek Presidency, and of course of the next Presidency – a Mediterranean Presidency – the Italian Presidency. Our very concrete and practical ambition is now to elaborate the conclusions of the upcoming European Council meeting, later this month, in order to promote the idea of the so-called post-Stockholm package. This is our Mediterranean duty, our European duty, because we need the practical implementation of the principle of burden sharing.
Let me also make, very briefly, a remark on the Albanian issue. The Greek national position was very positive and very creative, from the very beginning, for granting candidate status to Albania as of this past December, at the General Affairs Council on enlargement. And we hope that at this month’s upcoming General Affairs Council we will have the opportunity to decide on the granting of candidate status for Albania. This is something very important to us.
And the last remark on today’s meeting: As we all understand, Ukraine is always the first topic at every international meeting, but our duty is to keep our attention on the Western Balkans issues as well, and also on our Southern Neighbourhood. The Eastern Neighbourhood, including Ukraine, is the hottest issue on the international agenda, and also on the European agenda, but we must preserve the internal equilibrium of our enlargement policy, and also of our Neighbourhood Policy, as the European Union".
June 3, 2014