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Athens News Agency: News in English, 09-12-08
CONTENTS
[01] Áthens on EU FMs' council
[01] Áthens on EU FMs' council
BRUSSELS (ANA-MPÁ) -- Greek Alternate Foreign Minister Dimitris
Droutsas and Cyprus Foreign Minister Markos Kyprianou expressed, in a
joint statement, their satisfaction on Tuesday over the final
conclusions of the EU's external relations council regarding Turkey and
the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (fYRoM), underlining that the
positive results were supported by close coordination between Greece
and Cyprus.
On the question of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (fYRoM),
Droutsas expressed satisfaction over the decisions concerning the
one-time Yugoslav republic, adding that within the day Greek Prime
Minister George Papandreou was due to have a telephone conversation
with that country's prime minister, Nikola Gruevski.
The Greek premier's initiative is interpreted as confirmation of
Athens' standing commitment to boost bilateral cooperation.
As regards Turkey, Droutsas said that following prolonged and tough
negotiations, a substantive improvement in the EU council's conclusions
was achieved.
The Greek alternate foreign minister said Athens vigorously promoted
its positions, while noting that the Swedish EU presidency had
radically different views from those of Greece.
Referring further to Turkey's EU course, Droutsas termed as a
"considerable success" the exclusion from the Council's conclusions of
a text proposed by the Swedish presidency that stated, among others,
that bilateral differences between member-states and
candidate-countries must not be an obstacle for EU enlargement.
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