Foreign Minister Avramopoulos’s article, entitled “Greek diplomacy beyond the crisis,” in Sunday’s TO VIMA

In recent months, Greek foreign policy set the goal – in tandem with reorganization – of repairing the country’s crisis-damaged image. The aim was for Greek diplomacy to be able once again to move boldly, with initiatives and ideas, in its geopolitical environs and beyond, restoring Greece to a positive light on the international stage.

And the results are starting to become perceptible.

No one denies the fact that the global and European media coverage of the economic crisis laid disproportionate blame on Greece. Greece certainly had its share of the blame, which, however, had more to do with our obligation to rebuild and upgrade the functioning of the state. It also has to do with our self-evident obligation to put our financial house in order. We acknowledge this, and our policy is directed correspondingly.

However, for three years now, the impression cultivated was – and to a certain extent remains – that we are one of the basic causes of the wider economic crisis in the Eurozone.

We are changing this image and sense, once again giving Greek foreign policy a dynamic role both in its wider neighbourhood and within the European Union. As well as on issues that have to do with security, stability and peacekeeping efforts around the world.

And we are doing all of this with the main priority of promoting and defending our national interest, our sovereign rights, and our economic priorities.

The economic crisis is a catalyst for making us face up to international reality, and it makes all of us – the government, political parties, social agencies, the mass media, and citizens – responsible for not leaving room for the promotion of ideas and moves that might convert economic weakness and its social dimension into a national problem with catastrophic repercussions, as happened in 1897 and 1922.

At the same time, we are completing initiatives for the setting up of strong institutions that will safeguard historical and institutional memory while ensuring the strategic depth of our foreign policy. To this end, together with the necessary scientific support, modern systems are being put at the service of Greek diplomacy; systems for managing Greece’s foreign policy issues with the assistance of advanced innovative technologies. We are once again linking up operationally to the Euroatlantic system. We are forging strategic relations with historical partners and allies, like the U.S., and we are imparting fresh momentum to our political, economic, investment and trade relations with global power poles like China and Russia. We are once again paving the way to meetings and cooperation with our immediate neighbours, expressing ourselves sincerely, adopting the principle of honest diplomacy. We set issues out candidly, realistically and truthfully, asking the same of our collocutors. We are thus shaping an environment of good-faith understanding while weakening the voices of nationalistic populism.

In tandem, we are undertaking political initiatives aimed at the convergence of the economic interests of all the countries in the region, with emphasis on the energy sector. This framework includes, for example, our plans, first, for cultivating synergies with European countries of the region regarding the promotion of an initiative for a European exclusive economic zone, as well as the promotion of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline project, which can create strong energy bonds with the countries of the Western Balkans, beyond the direct linking of Greece with the Italian energy network and, by extension, the Central European network.

But by the term “our neighbourhood” we do not mean just the Balkans. We use this term to refer more widely to Southeast Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, the Caucasus, the Mediterranean.

We are restoring our stable and stabilizing role, capitalizing on our geostrategic advantages, making the reminder that Greece has one of the most stable democracies and one of the strongest defence systems in Europe.

We are imparting momentum to economic and business diplomacy, opening our horizons to include the planets new, major markets.

To do all of this, we are restructuring our global diplomatic representation, closing missions whose usefulness is past and opening new ones where our economic and business interests beckon.

Diplomacy is a visionary, dynamic policy of initiatives and interventions aimed at promoting national interests and penetrating major decision-making centres in all sectors: economy, culture, business, education, technology, research, international strategy. It is participation in the shaping of developments on major international issues that directly or indirectly impact Greece. And this is where a new perception of global Hellenism comes in. A perception that, beyond the obvious – sustaining and strengthening national identity – can function as a means for strengthening our sway in centres of international influence.

We opened new channels of communication with neighbouring Turkey, and we encouraged the relations between our two peoples and business communities. Through the High-Level Cooperation Council, we laid the foundation for a new era of cooperation, making it clear that our relations can be developed only on the basis of respect for international law and national sovereignty.

We made it clear that the resolution of the Cyprus issue – in accordance with the resolutions of the Security Council and the fact of the participation of the Republic of Cyprus in the European Union – is vital to our bilateral relations and the creation of an environment of security and stability.

To our neighbours, FYROM, we sent a message for the signing of a memorandum of cooperation, thus showing our will to find a solution, under the inviolable principle of mutual historical and cultural respect that is a prerequisite for finding a solution on the name issue. An erga omnes solution – for use in relation to everyone and for all uses – that leaves no margin for anachronistic nationalistic or irredentist designs.

We support the perspective of the Western Balkans’ accession to European and Euroatlantic structures, noting the dangers arising from the escalation of extreme nationalism and populism.

We are once again making our presence felt in the wider Mediterranean region – in the developments in the Middle East and the countries of the Arab spring. From the very outset we have spoken consistently and firmly of the need for a political solution to the Syrian crisis; a solution that respects the sovereignty of the friendly Syrian people and puts an end to the civil strife.

We are developing and deepening our strategic relationship with Israel, while at the same time reaffirming – every day – the close and trusting relations linking us to the Arab world. We are cultivating and enriching cooperation with Egypt and restoring ties with countries like Libya.

The conclusion is that the financial crisis and the regional instability and fluidity around us are creating a new state of affairs and new opportunities; opportunities that Greece is endeavouring to handle successfully, to the benefit not only of itself, but also of Europe, of which we are the most important and trusted force in our region.

The backbone of Greek foreign policy on all of this is international law, the principles and values of the European Union, and the defence of Greek and European vital interests. A central axis is the notion and principle of honest diplomacy, a new political outlook on international relations that cancels out the stereotype of the incompatibility between the terms diplomacy and honesty. Through plain speaking, honest diplomacy paves the way to mutual understanding and mutual respect, also strengthening the principle of mutual trust.

The Greece of the 21st century is not the Greece of the Balkan past. It is the Greece of Europe. It is the country of democratic culture, of rule of law, of open economy, of separation of powers and of cultural tolerance.

And Greece honours these principles.

These are the messages Athens sends to the world through its diplomacy. It thus shows the way a country in crisis can be a model for overcoming crisis. It shows that it can be a model of and factor for the consolidation of peace, of mutual cultural respect, of the stability and development so vital in our time.

The citizens of Greece are right to demand policies that strengthen the sense of national dignity and pride. This new outlook of Greek diplomacy functions as a force for overcoming the crisis and upgrading our country’s image and stature in the world.

At a time when everything has been internationalized, foreign policy runs through our national system to meet the citizen and impact many aspects of his life. Our era – with the revolution that has taken place in recent decades in transport, communication, movement of youth and the dissemination of information – opened yet another chapter: that of the diplomacy of cities, contributing significantly to the shaping of an environment of understanding, co-existence and promotion of human rights.

In the modern outlook of our foreign relations and the strategy of Greek foreign policy cover a broad spectrum of political ideas, proposals and initiatives, aiming to once again give Greece a role in helping to shape an environment of security and stability, regaining and enhancing its international stature and the pride and dignity of the Greek people.