Athens News Agency: News in English, 07-11-14
CONTENTS
[01] FM Bakoyannis visiting Paris
[01] FM Bakoyannis visiting Paris
Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis was the official guest of French Farm
and Fisheries Minister Michel Barnier at an event he organised in Paris
on Wednesday on the theme of "Europe and its borders." A group of
deputies of the ruling UMP party participated in the event.
According to a briefing by foreign ministry spokesman George
Koumoutsakos, Bakoyannis mentioned during her address the excellent
cooperation existing between Greece and France, underlining at the same
time policies aiming at strengthening cooperation in the
Mediterranean.
The Greek minister expressed Greece's support for the initiative by
French President Nicolas Sarkozy on the creation of a Mediterranean
Union. She said that this initiative must be based on simple procedures
and concern the promotion and implementation of specific programmes,
such as sustainable development, energy, sea transportation, the
management of water resources. Lastly, she stressed the need for it to
function in a supplementary fashion in relation to existing initiatives
and programmes.
Referring to Turkey, the minister expressed support for the prospect of
its accession to the European Union, on the necessary precondition of
lifting the "casus belli", protecting the rights of minorities and
recognising the Ecumenical Patriarchate, as well as ending occupation
in Cyprus.
Bakoyannis pointed out that the Sarkozy initiative on the creation of a
Mediterranean Union should not be considered a substitute for Turkey's
European prospect, annulling its accession process in this way.
Bakoyannis will be meeting French Foreign Minister Kouchner late on
Wednesday night.
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