Doorstep with the Greek Prime Minister
21 November 2006
Tony Blair and Costas Karamanlis both spoke about the strong relationship between Greek and the UK, following talks in Downing Street.
Parts of this transcript may have been edited
Opening statements:
Prime Minister:
Good afternoon everyone. First of all can I welcome the Prime Minister here and to say how pleased I am at the state of the relationship between Greece and the United Kingdom today which is very strong. We have got very good bilateral co-operation against a whole range of issues and in many different fields.
Obviously what we talked about today was in part issues to do with the European Union but also how we strengthen the trade and investment relationship between our two countries and some of the wider regional issues as well.
So, Kostas, my very warm welcome here today. I'm delighted to see you here and as I say the way that the two of us and our two countries work together in the European Union is a very good testimony to the strength of the relationship today and long may it continue. Over to you.
Greek Prime Minister:
Thank you very much. It is a great pleasure to be in London and I had a very useful talk with Tony Blair. We exchanged views on bilateral, European and international issues. As already mentioned, bilateral relations are very good. Greece and the United Kingdom have a very fruitful co-operation in a series of fields and I am confident that there is further room for expanding them further.
We also discussed Turkish progress in its European course and I take the opportunity to repeat that we support Turkish European orientation, provided of course they adopt the European values and principles and implement fully all the criteria and requirements set by the European Union and that it honours its obligations.
We touched upon the Cyprus issue. Greece fully supports the relaunching of a negotiation process which we believe must be timely and based upon careful preparation.
We also had the opportunity to discuss the situation in south-eastern Europe. For Greece, stability, security, prosperity and good neighbourly relations in this region which is our immediate neighbourhood are a strategic goal. We therefore support the European Union orientation of the countries of this region.
Finally I would like once again to thank Tony for his warm welcome.
Prime Minister:
Thank you Kostas. We have time for one question each.
Question and Answers session:
Question:
Prime Minister, what is your reaction to the assassination of Pierre Gemayel in Lebanon and what do you think this means for the wider stability of the region which is something which you have been talking about lately and we have concerns about?
Prime Minister:
We condemn this murder utterly. It is completely without any justification at all. We need to do everything we can, particularly at this moment, to protect democracy in Lebanon and the premiership of Prime Minister Siniora. And it underlines once again the absolute and urgent need for a strategy for the whole of the Middle East that supports those who favour democracy and the proper way of resolving disputes everywhere and obviously then there will have to be a most detailed investigation into what has taken place.
Question:
Prime Minister, this morning Mr Gul, the Foreign Minister of Turkey almost made clear that he will not make any use of the period until the 6th of December which was given to Turkey by the Finnish Presidency to move, or make some move, on the, as you mentioned, the conditions of the European Union. So what do you suggest should be done as we work to the European Summit regarding the European process of Turkey. Should we freeze the process, should we have an extension until let's say 2008, should we just open some chapters and leave the rest. What do you suggest?
Prime Minister:
What I suggest is that at the moment I think it would not be very sensible to go into what may or may not happen at the European Council in December but what I suggest is that we work day in and day out over the next couple of weeks to get a way forward because both Britain and Greece share this strategic vision of Turkey's membership of the European Union. I think this is important for the European Union and it is important for the stability of the whole of the region but obviously the rules that apply to the European Union must be adhered to. So we know what the difficulty is, we know what the challenge is and we have to got to find a way found it and rather though I think being specific at this moment in time as to what we should do we should try to create a different atmosphere and a different climate around this negotiation to try and get the outstanding issues resolved which allow Turkey to move forward but allow the rules of the European Union to be kept.
Greek Prime Minister:
I think I will repeat what I just said. We support the Turkish European orientation perspective. On the other hand Turkey has certain obligations to fulfil the conditions it has by itself undertaken and we see that it has to be done. Now the exact response of the European Union is a matter of close co-operation and consideration with all our European partners. But let me take the opportunity to express also my sorrow and very strong condemnation of the assassination of the Lebanese Deputy and say that we strongly support the Lebanese Government's efforts to strengthen democracy in that country.
