Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-12-04

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

CONTENTS

[01] 'Greece can help Europe find its path again," President Pavlopoulos tells ERT

[02] Steinmeier: All recent European crises have directly affected Greece

[01] 'Greece can help Europe find its path again," President Pavlopoulos tells ERT

"Greece can help Europe find its way again," he said, noting that Europe had to make a "change of course" and had been unprepared to face the "global economic war" that broke out in 2008 with the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

Pavlopoulos said that the austerity imposed in response to the high Greek deficit, unalleviated by any social welfare policy, "created a huge debt crisis that is the greatest problem in the Eurozone." Europe's reactions then converted this crisis into a banking crisis, since it did not have a flexible central bank capable of dealing with the situation that arose.

Greece with its high deficits had been the "weak link" at that time and once again proved Europe unready to deal with the problem with a European programme. It turned to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and this had imposed a programme on Greece that had been "problematic" from the start, Pavlopoulos said, with mistaken calculations that served to deepen the recession and the debt crisis, rather than resolve it.

Regarding Greece's debt, Pavlopoulos said a nominal debt haircut was not possible, especially after the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) was set up, since this explicitly forbid debt reduction. Debt relief was, however, absolutely essential and this could now be achieved through lower interest rates and deferred repayments, he added. Regarding interest rates, he pointed out that other countries were currently borrowing at much lower rates, while Greece had a debt to the IMF, whose interest rates were quite high.

Regarding foreign policy issues and relations with Turkey, in particular, the president stressed that the only legitimate difference with Turkey was that over delineating the continental shelf around the Greek islands.

"All the rest does not exist. It is resolved through the rules of international law and, in particular, the Treaty of Lausanne, which defines the borders of Greece and the EU," the president stated.

Regarding the Cyprus issue, Pavlopoulos said that this must be resolved on the basis of a European solution only, since Cyprus was a member-state of the EU.

Commenting on the EU accession hopes of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), the president warned that Skopje must be aware that first-order European law requires a country wishing to join the EU not to have irredentist aims against others, since it was then in violation of the European body of law.

This was especially true "when you have a name that literally shouts irredentism," he added. Pavlopoulos noted that a country called on to decide whether FYROM should join the EU would have a right to raise a veto..."the veto, therefore, exists because the state of FYROM does not meet the requirements of European laws and this is not a Greek position, it is a European position," he said.

[02] Steinmeier: All recent European crises have directly affected Greece

"The threats gather here in your country. There is no European crisis in recent years that has not directly affected Greece. In my country, it often seems to me, they have not understood this yet," he said.

Among such threats, Steinmeier listed the financial crisis, the refugee crisis and the EU's relations with Turkey, while he criticised the "carelessness" of some German opinions concerning Greece, especially those talking about a Greek exit from the common currency or Schengen zone.

"On the contrary, I would hope that other European partners supported the European enterprise as steadfastly as you do here in Greece," he noted.

German considers Greece a necessary and undisputed partner, Steinmeier emphasised:

"In Greece I see a partner that is prepared to take on responsibility. A specific and very timely example is the solution of the Cyprus issue. There appears to be an opportunity here for historic progress. Greece is, in our eyes, in Germany's eyes, a necessary and undisputed partner in Europe and for Europe," he said.

Kotzias, also referring to the Cyprus issue, underlined that Athens was not prepared to accept either occupation forces or guarantors in a European country.

"We do not want any country in Europe to have occupation forces or some third parties outside of Europe to guarantee anyone's rights," he said at the exhibition opening.

Kotzias said his talks with Steinmeier in Athens will focus on approving a common action plan for friendship between Greece and Germany.

"We say we want a country that is open to everyone, with all cultures open. We deeply believe in the rule of law. We are a stable force that believes in this enterprise that is called the European Union, which is a system of law. We are those that hope, along with our German friends, that this enterprise will progress and we will make every effort, even in the most difficult times, to keep open the road for a Europe that is socially just, democratic and a factor for peace and security in the world. A strong force in the 21st century," he said.

In order to achieve this, he added, Europe needed a creative and productive relationship with the arts and history, which "should be our school for tomorrow and not our prison for all our lives."

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