Press Office
Athens, 10 April 2022
President of Parliament meets with President of NATO Parliamentary Assembly
"What is happening today in Ukraine is what happened in 1974 in Cyprus, where the national sovereignty and the territorial integrity of a UN member state were violated."
"NATO is called upon to play an equally historic role to the one it played in the first years of the Cold War and I am certain that it is something it can achieve.” stressed the President of the Hellenic Parliament Constantine Tassoulas while welcoming the President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, US Congressman Gerald Connolly, in the framework of the Spring Meeting of the NATO PA Standing Committee, hosted by the Hellenic Parliament this weekend.
“Therefore, our reaction to Putin’s barbaric attack on Ukraine and to the impact on our societies must be decisive” underlined the President of the Parliament and added: “We must awaken similarly in the defence and the political dimension, so that the invasion in Ukraine will become Putin’s huge mistake, that will awaken the West, at a great cost, of course, and thus render it immune to similar hostile actions. And if the impact on Western societies of Russia’s barbaric invasion in Ukraine, such as high prices and shortages, are not addressed, then populism in the Western societies may very well become Putin’s fifth column”.
The NATO PA President for his part thanked Greece for its stance against the Russian invasion, emphasising: “And I salute my Greek friends and the Greek government in being one of the very first to step up immediately after the invasion in its stalwart support for Ukraine and the Ukrainian people. It’s been a model for all of us in NATO”.
Mr Connolly added: “This is a great moment in Europe, and I am confident that because we have the NATO Alliance, we will meet this moment and Vladimir Putin and his Russian cronies will pay a terrible price for this reckless undertaking that has cost so many innocent lives. And Europe will be united as it has never before and the United States will stand shoulder to shoulder with our European allies and friends, to prevail ultimately.”
The President presented Mr Connolly with a replica of the “Harvester vase” from the Heraklion Archaeological Museum of Crete, depicting a group of harvesters who return home singing after a hard day’s work.
"In Ukraine, Mr President, harvesting in the vast granaries is one of the most valuable jobs not only for the economy of Ukraine, but also for the global economy. The whole world feeds on Ukrainian wheat. I gift you, therefore, this “Harvester vase”, with the conviction that the determination of NATO and the West will allow Ukraine to harvest its wheat again and the Ukrainian harvesters to live their peaceful lives again and us to return to our peaceful pursuits, having learned a lot from this barbaric war that Russia is not only waging against Ukraine, but against democracy.”
Full statements:
Constantine Tassoulas, President of the Hellenic Parliament
It is with feelings of pleasure and honour that I welcome today to the Hellenic Parliament Mr Gerald Connolly, US Congressman for the state of Virginia and President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. The NATO PA Standing Committee meets today at the Hellenic Parliament, in the presence of representatives, i.e. MPs from the 30 member states of the Alliance, with the participation, of course, of Greek MPs, headed by the here present New Democracy MP for the constituency of Aitoloakarnania Spilios Livanos. At this meeting NATO is highlighting its resolve to protect its Eastern borders, now that Russia has waged a war, an unprovoked one, against Ukraine, with a barbaric invasion and, at the same time, NATO is called upon, beyond confirming it role, to formulate it new strategy in view of the Madrid Summit at the end of June, where the Alliance’s new strategic concept will be announced. During my address in the Plenary I reminded how loyal and dedicated Greece has been to NATO, and how it had high expectations from NATO. So high, in fact, that when it was disillusioned by NATO’s stance towards the Turkish invasion in Cyprus, it withdrew from the military flank, only to return later, in the autumn of 1980.Today, we find ourselves before a military invasion in Ukraine and an invasion of serious economic consequences in the West. I liken the economic impact on the West to the Berlin blockade in 1948 and 1949 by Stalin. Then, Stalin made a grave mistake, because the West experienced a defence awakening because of that blockade and NATO was established. The blockade was unsuccessful thanks to an enormous airlift of 270.000 flights in one year and 2 million tons in supplies, making Stalin abandon the blockade disillusioned. Today, the impact on Western societies has to do with high prices and shortages. And if these consequences are not addressed, then populism in the Western societies may very well become Putin’s fifth column. Therefore, our reaction to Putin’s barbaric attack on Ukraine and to the impact on our societies must be decisive. We must awaken similarly in the defence and the political dimension, so that the invasion in Ukraine will become Putin’s huge mistake that will awaken the West, at a great cost, of course, and thus render it immune to similar hostile actions. NATO, Mr President, in the days of your Presidency of the Parliamentary Assembly is called upon to play an equally historic role to the one it played in the first years of the Cold War and I am certain that it is something it can achieve. Greece, in any case and I said in the Plenary, remain a loyal ally of NATO, because we believe that the protection of territorial integrity and national sovereignty are key to the peaceful coexistence of peoples. What is happening today in Ukraine is what happened in 1974 in Cyprus, where the national sovereignty and the territorial integrity of a UN member state were obliterated. And we believe that something like that can no longer be permissible. Again, welcome to Greece.
Gerald Connolly, President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly
“It is a great honour to be here in Athens for the Standing Committee meeting of the NATO PA. May be almost a cliché to refer to Athens and the Acropolis as the cradle of democracy, but in light of the violence that’s been unleashed by one man, one deranged man in Moscow, on the European continent, it is important to remind ourselves that Greek history celebrates great moments of democratic triumph and also reminds us of tragic moments of democratic loss. We celebrate Thermopylae, we celebrate Marathon, we celebrate Salamis, and we look at the Acropolis as an iconic symbol for all of us who share democratic values. Ukraine today is guilty of only one thing. It wants to be a free people. It wants to be a free country. It wants to determine its own destiny. And I salute my Greek friends and the Greek government in being one of the very first to step up immediately after the invasion in its stalwart support for Ukraine and the Ukrainian people. It’s been a model for all of us in NATO and we thank you for the incredible leadership you’ve shown and the support you’ve shown for the Ukrainian people which was acknowledged today by our Ukrainian colleagues and by your counterpart in the Ukrainian Rada, the Parliament in Ukraine. This is a great moment in Europe, and I am confident that because we have the NATO Alliance, we will meet this moment and Vladimir Putin and his Russian cronies will pay a terrible price for this reckless undertaking that has cost so many innocent lives. And Europe will be united as it has never before and the United States will stand shoulder to shoulder with our European allies and friends, to prevail ultimately. Thank you.”
