Athens
, 26 November 2009
Mr. Delavekouras: Good morning, and welcome. I’ll start with the programmes. At 13:00 today, Alternate Foreign Minister Droutsas will host a luncheon at the Foreign Ministry in honor of the Ambassadors to Greece from the countries of Latin American.
At 11:00 tomorrow, 27 November, Mr. Droutsas will receive the Italian Ambassador to Athens at the Foreign Ministry. At 11:30 he will receive the Portuguese Ambassador, at 12:00 he will receive the Hungarian Ambassador, and at 12:30 he will receive the Slovakian Ambassador.
On to the OSCE Ministerial. I would like to brief you on some organizational matters. I think you have received the Media Advisory, and I would like to give you an outline of the programme as it stands so far.
Essentially, the programme starts on 30 November. At 15:00 there will be a briefing from the OSCE spokesperson and myself at the Ministerial venue. At 18:00, the OSCE Troika will meet with the Mediterranean partners. At 19:00 the Troika will meet with the Asian partners, and at 20:00 Mr. Kouvelis will host a working dinner for the Troika and the partners.
At 10:00 on the first day of the Ministerial – Tuesday, 1 December – the first plenary session will take place. The President of the Hellenic Republic, Mr. Karolos Papoulias, will declare the opening of the proceedings.
Then there will be speeches from the Chairman of the OSCE, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, the President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Mr. Soares, the Secretary General of the OSCE, Mr. Brichambaut, as well as Foreign Ministers and many heads of delegations.
Journalist: Will that be open?
Mr. Delavekouras: According to the programme we have so far, the inauguration of the proceedings, at 10:00, will be open. If there are any changes, you will be notified.
After the family photograph, at 13:00, there will be a working luncheon of the Ministers and delegation heads, and at 15:00 there will be a second session, which will be closed.
At 20:00, the Greek Prime Minister will host a dinner in honor of the heads of the delegations.
Journalist: Where?
Mr. Delavekouras: At the Acropolis Museum. On Wednesday, 2 December, the 3rd plenary session will take place, and that will start at 09:30 and it will be closed. And in the afternoon the Chairman, the Greek Prime Minister, will hold a press conference. This press conference is scheduled for 13:30, but it will take place after the proceedings have been concluded. We might have a short delay.
All of the proceedings will be covered on closed circuit television that will be on view at the press center, so you will be able to watch the proceedings – but only certain parts will be open and shown on CCTV.
Now, on to the substantial issues. For some time now, many draft OSCE decisions have been under negotiation, and these are being discussed in Vienna and will continue to be discussed in Athens. These drafts concern the three dimensions: the human, the politico-military and the economic-environmental dimensions.
These – however many are agreed upon – will be announced at the close of the 2nd day of the Ministerial, in the afternoon.
I also want to inform you that an effort is being made by the Greek Chairmanship so that the participating states might proceed to a political declaration. I note that such a political declaration has not been agreed upon since 2002. It is a text political in content, and it hasn’t been feasible for it to be agreed upon in recent years.
Perhaps the most significant endeavor of the Greek Chairmanship – what Greece brought to the Organization, reinvigorating its proceedings – is the Corfu Process. Let me remind you here that the Chairmanship capitalized on Russian President Medvedev’s proposal for a new European security agreement, using it as a springboard for a constructive dialogue on all the European security issues.
This dialogue took on a specific form at the informal OSCE Ministerial held on Corfu, and the fact that all of the partners expressed their support for this effort makes it clear that the foundations have been laid for the opening of a substantial dialogue on an issue that up until a year and a half ago did not enjoy the support of all the partners.
The participating states have embraced the Corfu Process. The dialogue has been substantial, opposition has been toned down and the atmosphere has improved.
We hope that the 56 participating states will take the opportunity of the Athens Ministerial to take the Corfu Process to the next level: the institutionalization and continuation of this dialogue, for the essential purpose of the future of European security.
Finally, with regard to the completion of our mission, at the end of the year Greece passes the OSCE Chairmanship on to Kazakhstan, which will be the first country from the former Soviet Union to take on the duties of the Chairmanship – and this has great symbolic significance.
Greece will of course participate in the EU Troika, so it will be alongside Kazakhstan throughout the latter’s Chairmanship, and we will contribute with all our energy to promoting the dialogue; the Corfu Process.
That’s what I wanted to say about the OSCE Ministerial, and I am available to answer any questions you might have.
Thank you.
Journalist: Can I get off the subject of the OCSE?
Mr. Delavekouras: Of course.
Journalist: We see that in Skopje specific interpretations are being made of the meeting the Prime Minister is to have with Mr. Gruevski on the margins of the meeting in Prespes on the environment. Interpretations originating not only in the news media, but also in the manner in which the political and party leadership overall is approaching this meeting, saying that “it is a defining moment that may well directly impact the results of the December European Council.”
They are talking about substantial dialogue with the submission of proposals by the Skopje side – by the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia – and it is not completely clear, at least from Skopje, whether they are looking at the prospect of this meeting in precisely the manner that Athens is: as a meeting unrelated to the negotiations at the UN. Which of the two is the case?
Mr. Delavekouras: First of all, let’s set out the facts. The facts are that the Prime Minister has called a trilateral meeting. He has invited the Prime Ministers of Albania and FYROM to talk in Prespes about environmental cooperation issues, protection of the Prespes Park.
Let me also remind you that this initiative comes only a few days before the Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change, and it is the government’s position to give priority to environmental protection issues, as well as to take on a coordinating, leading role in its region – in the Balkans as well as the Mediterranean – so as to be able, through initiatives, to coordinate the states in the region and give momentum to a single voice that will come from our region regarding these issues.
This initiative also comes about 10 years after another meeting of the prime ministers of the three countries in Prespes and the joint communiqué in which they declared their commitment to work together to confront the problems of the area and ecosystem of Prespes, which really requires inter-state cooperation.
Greece believes that impetus must be given to this cooperation. The EU also needs to get involve, with its programmes and its know-how, and a framework needs to be created so that the three states can collaborate on their policies on the region and confront the very real problems.
Informal meetings of the Greek Prime Minister with his Albanian and FYROM counterparts are expected to take place on the margins of the Prespes meeting.
In these meetings, it is reasonable to expect that the whole range of issues being addressed bilaterally by these countries will be discussed, and it is reasonable to expect that the name issue will be discussed in the meeting with Mr. Gruevski. But there should be no room for misapprehensions.
This meeting – just like the meeting that took place on the initiative of the Greek Prime Minister on the margins of the European Council about a month ago – in no way changes the framework that exists, and this framework is the negotiation process at the UN, under the UN Secretary General’s special envoy, Mr. Nimetz. That is the process.
That is where we are awaiting the solution, and we are also waiting for the other side to participate constructively – at long last – in this process. Direct meetings, direct contact, the introductory meeting that the Prime Minister had a month ago with the FYROM Prime Minister, the meeting they will have tomorrow – all of these can only contribute in the direction of lending momentum to the United Nations process. We think they benefit the process.
But what is still being sought is for Skopje to come to this dialogue – to these negotiations at the United Nations – in a constructive spirit so that we can arrive at a mutually acceptable solution.
Beyond that, we have to be clear that until this solution is achieved, there can be no opening of FYROM’s accession negotiations with the EU. This, too, has to be clear, so that there should be no surprises or misunderstandings; so that unrealistic expectations are not cultivated.
Journalist: Regarding the OSCE Ministerial, there are news items saying that the Foreign Ministers of the UK and Germany aren’t coming. Whether this is true. And if it is true, Whether you have a comment; whether this means anything for the OSCE Ministerial. That is, is a move being made to downgrade, or something else?
Mr. Delavekouras: According to the information I have at this time from the Chairmanship taskforce, we are expecting about 50 Foreign Ministers to participate in the Ministerial, out of 56 participating states. As you can see, that is a very high attendance rate.
Journalist: (off microphone) Which are the 6? Can you confirm those for us?
Mr. Delavekouras: So far, the U.S. Secretary of State will not be coming. Deputy Secretary of State Steinberg is to attend. There is Canada, the UK, Lichtenstein, Monaco and Germany.
Journalist: (off microphone)
Mr. Delavekouras: According to the list I have here, yes. With the reservation of any potential changes to the programme. But I would like to look at where the OSCE was a year ago when Greece took over the Chairmanship .
We are talking about an organisation that was often a field of conflict between East and West on various matters, the most important of which was the crisis in Georgia - we should not forget that.
Greece succeeded in making the most of the international juncture, the windows of opportunity that opened up, and managed to create new dynamics within the Organisation. The Corfu process has essentially given the OSCE a very important topic of discussion, i.e. the issue of security in Europe, and the OSCE has been established as the basic forum of discussion for this matter.
This is a very important development, which has opened up new prospects, because if things at the Athens Ministerial Council go ahead as we want them to, we will be able to talk about continuing the dialogue - a dialogue consolidated thanks to Greece's efforts - the Corfu process, and it can also lead to very important results on peace and security in our region.
Journalist: What is the government’s answer to Mr. Christofias’ letter demanding that sanctions be imposed on Turkey in case it doesn't implement the Ankara Protocol?
Mr. Delavekouras: Greece is in constant and close coordination with the Republic of Cyprus. This was shown by the fact that the Greek Prime Minister’s first state visit was to the Republic of Cyprus, and also by the very frequent meetings between the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Cyprus, Mr. Kyprianou, and the Greek political leadership.
I would also like to stress that Mr. Kyprianou will be in Athens the day after tomorrow for the Ministerial Council of the OSCE, and it is a given fact that coordinating meetings will be held.
Of course we are also faced with the December date. The decisions to be made then are significant. They will be important for Turkey's accession course, they will be important for its relation with the EU and, of course, they will be important for Cyprus and Greece and all the issues that are of concern to us.
The letter sent by President Christofias presents the discussions that have already been held at the National Council and briefs the 27 member states on the course of negotiations, which is not satisfactory.
We are expecting a discussion to be held at the European Council on this point. We hope to see progress by then; we hope that Turkey will take steps in the right direction and that there will be progress. Because it is ultimately at the European Council that decisions will be made, it is then that Turkey will be evaluated objectively and rigorously.
Journalist: On that issue, Mr. Spokesman, I don’t know if you have been informed about the Swedish Presidency’s draft that was put forward last night.
Do you consider rigorous and objective the reference that the consequence for non-compliance with its obligations will be the Commission’s continuing to monitor the course of implementation of its obligations; or is it a completely different thing, because it does not seem like an evaluation. What moves have you made – and what moves do you intend to make - in order for this recommendation by the Swedish Presidency not to be included?
Can you accept a proposal like the Swedish Presidency’s proposal? And I also have a second question.
Mr. Delavekouras: Do you want to ask the second question as well?
Journalist: No, later.
Mr. Delavekouras: Look, at this stage we are not going to go into this discussion on scenarios and draft conclusions, which have not been agreed upon by anyone. We have made it clear that Turkey will be evaluated rigorously and objectively in December; that is a given fact.
Beyond that, we are not going to say what we intend to do as yet. We are not going to show our cards for the moment. We will do that when the time comes and we will do it according to our national interests.
Journalist: And a second question. Could you please tell us how Mr. Milososki is going to come to Greece? You realise why I’m asking that.
Mr. Delavekouras: I do. According to the information we have at the moment, Mr. Milososki will come on a commercial flight.
Journalist: (off microphone) Which one?
Mr. Delavekouras: I don’t know.
Journalist: I wanted to ask whether Mr. Papandreou has replied to Mr. Erdogan’s letter, and whether Mr. Erdogan’s letter will be made public.
Mr. Delavekouras: The Greek Prime Minister’s has not yet replied to his Turkish counterpart’s letter.
Journalist: Does he intend to?
Mr. Delavekouras: He will reply to the Turkish Prime Minister’s letter soon. When he does, we will let you know. We are not going to make public a letter that was sent to the Greek Prime Minister by a foreign leader. That is an issue of responsibility.
Journalist: Is there a reason for this delay? Because this reply has been on its way since last week, but it still hasn’t been sent. Is there a reason for this delay?
Mr. Delavekouras: No. The letter will be replied to, there is no reason for Greece to hurry to answer it. You realise that.
Journalist: I am asking whether it should have been replied to, given that Mr. Erdogan has raised certain arguments, an agenda; whether it should be answered before Mr. Davutoglu comes to Athens on Monday, and if there will be a meeting…
Mr. Delavekouras: No, there is no such question.
Journalist: Will there be a meeting between the Minister and Mr. Davutoglu?
Mr. Delavekouras: Probably. On the occasion of his presence here, it is highly likely. No meeting has been scheduled thus far. But there is no reason that Greece should answer this letter before Mr. Davutoglu comes here, I don't see the connection.
Journalist: Because it has been said that the reply is ready, that’s why I’m asking you.
Mr. Delavekouras: The letter will be replied to. When a reply is sent, we will announce it. There is no reason why we should link these two things, i.e. that Greece should answer before the Turkish Minister's arrival.
Journalist: Could you tell us the bilateral meetings that have been scheduled for the Prime Minister and the Alternate Foreign Minister?
Mr. Delavekouras: The schedule of meetings has not been finalised yet. We will announce it when these meetings are finalised, because many meetings that will be held, but they have not been finalised; a lot of requests have been coming in. But we will announce them as soon as we can.
Journalist: Could you tell us – given that there will probably be no important developments on the Skopje name issue – the precise stance to be adopted by the Greek side at the General Affairs Council before the European Council, where this issue will be discussed? Thank you.
Mr. Delavekouras: There is no text for the conclusions yet, so…
Journalist: If things are as they stand today, will we say that…
Mr. Delavekouras: This is a clear position. The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia will not start accession negotiations with the EU, unless the name issue is resolved first. This is our position. This will be our position at the COREPER, at the General Affairs Council, and at the European Council.
Journalist: Could you please repeat our position on the name issue, and give us your interpretation of “erga omnes” ?
Mr. Delavekouras: The solution we are seeking is an erga omnes compound name with a geographical qualifier, vis-a-vis everyone; “erga omnes” is a legal term and the word speaks for itself.
Journalist: There have been other interpretations…
Mr. Delavekouras: No, there are no other interpretations. Are there any other questions? Thank you very much.