Athens News Agency: News in English, 05-09-21

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] EU approves counterstatement on Turkey's declaration

[02] Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos holds talks with PM, former president Stephanopoulos

[01] EU approves counterstatement on Turkey's declaration

The text was agreed on Tuesday after negotiations between the EU British Presidency and Cyprus, and was presented Wednesday morning to the Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER), where no member state objected to its content.

The text was then approved in writing and the EU Presidency will circulate it as an EU statement.

After the approval of the counterstatement, COREPER looked into the Commission proposal for the framework of accession negotiations with Turkey, scheduled to begin on October 3. Discussions were expected to continue in the next few deys with the purpose of enabling the "25" to reach an agreement before the beginning of accession negotiations with Turkey on October 3.

Meanwhile, the relevant Commissioner responsible for enlargement Oli Ren expressed his satisfaction over the reaching of an agreement on the EU's response to Turkey over Cyprus, in a written statement here.

Ren spoke of a "balanced and reasonable result", pointing out that this agreement paves the way for the "smooth" adoption of the negotiating framework and the beginning of accession negotiations with Turkey on October 3.

The EU Commissioner also stressed that on June 29 the Commission had proposed a strict negotiating framework to member-states, implementing conclusions reached at the European Council in December 2004, adding that this proposal takes into consideration all the concerns and provides a strong basis for fair negotiations with Turkey.

Lastly, Ren appealed to member-states to proceed with the adoption of the negotiating framework as soon as possible.

[02] Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos holds talks with PM, former president Stephanopoulos

However, the reports said that the Ecumenical Patriarch expressed dissatisfaction over developments concerning the Pope's scheduled visit to the Phanar in Istanbul.

Vartholomeos also held talks with former president Kostis Stephanopoulos, who said that it is always a pleasure for him to hold talks with the Ecumenical Patriarch and reminded of a promise they had given to each other, when he was still president, that they will continue to meet.

At noon, Vartholomeos attended a luncheon given by Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Christodoulos and the Synod in the presence of Education Minister Marieta Yiannakou and Deputy Foreign Minister Panayiotis Skandalakis.

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