I welcome my dear colleague Ekaterina Zaharieva to Athens, on the occasion of the 140th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Greece and Bulgaria, which we are celebrating this year.
Our relations are those of neighbours, partners and allies. They are excellent relations in all sectors.
They are founded on firm ties that have been forged on the basis of acceptance of European values and of international law.
Today, we carried out an assessment of the progress in everything we agreed on in February in Alexandroupoli, at the 4th High-Level Cooperation Council, which was attended by the Prime Ministers Borisov and Mitsotakis.
We have now imparted the necessary institutional momentum to our bilateral cooperation in all sectors: energy, economy, infrastructure, education, culture, citizen protection, cross-border and police cooperation.
Today, we also talked about EU issues, following the recent Council decision, as well as topics concerning our neighbourhood.
We talked about the pandemic, its impact on our societies and economies, and about the two countries’ efforts to return to normalcy. We talked about the opportunities that might open up to our countries through the crisis, through the EU’s effort toward autonomous access to the necessary productive procedures necessary for its survival.
Regarding Covid-19, I am optimistic that the health protocols we have put in place will contribute safely to full restoration of cross-border travel.
With the Prime Minister and myself, Mrs. Zakharieva raised the urgent need to open up a second border crossing point between Greece and Bulgaria, between Greece and the Balkans, between Greece and Europe on our northern border. The Prime Minister promised Mrs. Zakharieva that he will give special attention to this issue and that it will be considered. In other words, the matter of our opening the border crossing at Nymfaia.
Beyond that, we talked about issues concerning the multilateral cooperation mechanisms that both countries are participating in. Because, both Greece and Bulgaria are factors for stability and development in our region, and we support our neighbours’ course towards the European Union – our Balkan neighbours, North Macedonia and Albania – under the condition, of course, of compliance with the set conditionalities.
The accession of these countries to the European Union is, for Greece and Bulgaria, a strategic choice that leads to stability in the Balkans.
We talked about the Thessaloniki Forum – the two meetings we had – and our intention to convene another meeting that will look at the progress the other Balkan countries are making towards the European Union.
We talked about the migration issue. Greece and Bulgaria are front-line countries. We are protectors of the European Union’s external borders.
We talked about all the issues pertaining to migration.
We then got to something very dismaying. The fact that our meeting is taking place in the shadow of the Turkish leadership’s historic misstep in altering the status of an emblematic monument of global cultural heritage: Hagia Sophia.
Greece and Bulgaria have identical views on this issue. After all, I always explain that the Hagia Sophia issue is the exact opposite of a Greek-Turkish dispute. It is a mistaken outlook on the part of Turkey, regarding the way to handle a world heritage monument that is on its territory.
Greece will continue to work to sustain the global community’s awareness on this major issue: the issue of disrespect of ecumenical dimensions for global cultural heritage, for the cultural heritage of the whole planet.
I also briefed my colleague on the ongoing Turkish violations in the region, and we discussed the issue. Violations in the Aegean and in the eastern Mediterranean. Turkish conduct that violates International Law and the Resolutions of the UN Security Council throughout its region: conduct directed at Cyprus, Syria, Iraq and even Libya.
In spite of the clear messages from the European Union and the international community, Turkey persists in its illegal conduct, which undermines peace, security and stability in the region.
I stressed to my counterpart that only full respect for international legality and the rules of good neighbourly relations can guarantee stability in the region.
Greece has repeatedly underscored that it will work in this direction, towards the implementation of the rules of International Law and the Law of the Sea. W
We already discussed this issue at the latest meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council.
I also had the opportunity to tell my colleague that Greece will not tolerate accomplished facts regarding its sovereignty and its sovereign rights. I wanted to make it absolutely clear to Mrs. Zakharieva, as I do to all of my interlocutors, what Greece’s position is on this issue.
I am very pleased to have the opportunity to host her in Athens today, and allow me to welcome her once again.
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JOURNALIST: My question is for Minister Dendias and has to do with the free passage of our citizens at the Greek borders, especially now in the summer season. From what I understand, you and Mrs. Zakharieva have discussed the opening of another border station. But I would like you to undertake a personal obligation to the Bulgarian people that this will happen quickly and that the other border stations will open, facilitating travel. This doesn’t concern just Bulgarians, but also Greek citizens who travel for recreation or work. And this will reduce the heavy traffic at the main crossing point at Promachonas.
N. DENDIAS: Thank you very much for this opportunity. My colleague, Mrs. Zakharieva, raised this issue in the clearest possible manner, with both me and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, during her meeting with him earlier. You are absolutely right to broaden the reach of the question, because it doesn’t concern just Bulgarians – it concerns all of us. First of all, it concerns a very large number of Greek entrepreneurs who live and work in Bulgaria – this point was raised earlier by the Deputy Minister, Mr. Fragogiannis, during our meeting – and it also concerns all of the residents of the European Union and, beyond that, the residents of Serbia and other countries who choose to come to Greece.
And there really does seem to be an issue of dysfunction at the only open border station, at Promachonas. But I must say that a promise from me would mean very little, because this issue is not within my area of responsibility. But what I can say is that the Prime Minister, Mr. Mitsotakis, promised my colleague that he will talk to the competent Deputy Minister for Citizen Protection within the day and get back to this issue very quickly. Because he understood that this is a crucial matter of the contact – I repeat – not just between our countries, but the contact within the framework of the European Union.
You know, as a parting observation, I must say that the coronavirus has tested everyone’s structures on very many levels, and also that scientists themselves, epidemiologists, feel a very great responsibility to our societies. And in this context, they impose measures in their effort to achieve the optimum result in a struggle they feel to be a struggle to protect human life.
The rest of us, having accepted that this is their role, must try, within the framework of what they tell us, to achieve the best possible result for our societies.
Thank you very much.
July 27, 2020