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Athens, 25 October 2022

Chairpersons of Switzerland-Greece Friendship Groups of two legislative bodies of Swiss Confederation on official visit to Athens

The Chairpersons of the Friendship Groups of the two Legislative Bodies of the Swiss Confederation, MP Elisabth Schneider-Schneiter and Senator Carlo Sommaruga conducted an official visit to Athens on 24-25 October 2022, following an invitation by their counterpart, the Chairwoman of the Greece-Switzerland Parliamentary Friendship Group Christina Alexopoulou.

The Deputy Minister of Migration and Asylum Sofia Voultepsi met with the foreign delegation and discussed current affairs with them. During the discussion, both the Deputy Minister and the Chairwoman of the Hellenic Parliament Friendship Group emphasised the need for the closest possible cooperation between our two countries, in order to make progress on the timely issue of European border protection. On this, the Swiss side expressed the country's unquestionable appreciation for the important work being carried out in Greece, regarding the management of migration flows and its significance for all European countries, which are affected by the volume of the hastily moving populations.

The Deputy Minister pointed out as particularly important the briefing that the Swiss parliamentarians would provide to their colleagues on the issues that were discussed, underlining in fact that Greece bases its existence on international conventions, therefore it never violates then, contrary to the tactics of revisionist powers.

Furthermore, Mrs Voultepsi referred to the cooperation between Greece and Switzerland, which is being developed to carry out an emblematic project with the aim of supporting the youth in spreading the spirit of Olympism and peace.

Meeting of the Greece-Switzerland Friendship Group with the Swiss delegation

During the meeting of the Greece-Switzerland Friendship Group with the Swiss delegation that followed, the Chairwoman Christina Alexopoulou, after a brief reference to the strong historic links dating back to the Greek Revolution, emphasised that this first meeting between the two sides through the Friendship Groups is presenting the opportunity to dynamically develop the relations between our parliament in the modern world. Furthermore, she added that during the recent working visit in Achaia aiming to inform about the investment possibilities in the region, the previous Swiss Ambassador found out about the remarkable research and academic work conducted at the Univeristy of Patras.

At the same time, reference was made to the signing of a bilateral Framework-Agreement in implementation of the contribution of the Confederation of Switzerland, in Luxembourg, to support Greece in the field of Migration with a contribution of 40 million euros to promote a series of related actions. On the subject, and taking into accountr the fact that Switzerland, as a non-permanent member of the Security Council for 2022-2024, has set as one of its priorites the protection of the civilian population, the contribution of Greece was recognised in guarding as well as possible the European borders. It was also underlined, that the neighbouring country systematically resorts to the instrumentalisation of human suffering as a means to put pressure on the EU.

Among other things, the matter of easing the differences between the EU and Switzerland, in order to restart negotiations about the Swiss participation in the Horizon and Erasmus programmes, was emphasised by both sides as utterly important.

Joint meeting of the Committee on Educational Affairs and the Committee on Research and Technology

On Tuesday, 25 October, at the joint meeting of the Standing Committee on Educational Affairs and the Special Permanent Committee on Research and Technology, the Chairman of the Standing Committee on Educational Affais Vassileios Digalakis recognised the excellent level of cooperation between Greece and Switzerland in the fields of Education, Research and Innovation, as they jointly participate in various European Framework-programmes on the one hand and in international research organisation on the other.

In fact, he pointed out the need to restart negotiations regarding Switzerland's participation in the Erasmus and Horizon programmes. He also referred to the current institutional framework on higher education, which, as he undelined, allows the development of common study programmes between Greek and Swiss universities. In the framework of cultural cooperation, Mr Digalakis praised the unfailing Swiss support for the return of the Parthenon sculptures to Greece.

The Deputy Chairmen of the Research and Technology Commitee Ioannis Sarakiotis and Ahmet Sabri Ilhan high-lighted the main points of the Committees work, pointing out, respectively: 1) the participation in committee meetings of representatives of institututional bodies and the coordinated action emanating from tools such as the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation, with the aim of supporting young scientists in an effort to reverse the phenomenon of outflow abroad by allowing the very research and academic community to actively participate in policy-making in the relevant fields and 2) the need for the cooperation of the committees of the two parliaments with similar actions, the establishment of thematic Chambers, holding conferences etc.

Present at the meetings were the new Ambassador of Switzerland to Athens Stefan Estermann, the Deputy Head of Mission Marc Bruchez and Counselor Tobias Schläpfer, responsible for migration issues. The Swiss delegation was officially supported by its Scientific Secretary Konstantinos Kokkinos.