Press Office
Athens, 28 January 2022
President of Hellenic Parliament at open-air exhibition "40 years in 40 words"… and a stamp", organised by European Parliament Office in Athens
The President of the Hellenic Parliament Constantine Tassoulas, the Minister Alternate for Foreign Affairs in charge of European Affairs Miltiadis Varvitsiotis, the Vice-President of the European Parliament Dimitris Papadimoulis, the 1st Vice-President of the Hellenic Parliament and Chairman of the Committee on European Affairs Nikitas Kaklamanis, the Mayor of Athens Kostas Bakoyannis, MPs and MEPs visited today the open-air exhibition "40 years in 40 words"… and a stamp", extending alongside the National Garden fence on Vasilissis Sofias Avenue, organised on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of Greece's accession to the European Economic Community (EEC), present-day EU.
The exhibition was organised by the Office of the European Parliament in Athens and presents important milestones from our country’s course into the European family, through 40 stamps illustrating and describing an equal number of landmark events in 40 words.
After the tour, Mr Tassoulas stated: "In 1981 Greece joined a western world mechanism, which proved to be its cultural, political, defence and institutional destination. In this democratic space, in this creative arena, Greece had the opportunity to try its potential and finally managed to achieve a lot. Of course, throughout these 40 years, there were also failures and setbacks, yet the final outcome is certainly positive. And today, as we celebrate this 40 year anniversary, we declare our readiness for the years to come, for the coming decades, to reach our full potential, to shape our future, to face our perspective and guide the country through this civilised, creative space, in order to build a much more productive, much more developed and much more confident Greece. We are on the right side of history and this is the way we envisage and shape our future ".
Mr Varvitsiotis commented: "The 40 years that have passed since Greece's accession to the then European Economic Union, have not been carefree, for either Greece or Europe. However, through successive crises, European Greece became stronger and Europe gained flesh and blood in the face of unprecedented challenges. Having suffered crises and fighting for our stay in the hard core of the European Union, it is our duty not to let sacrifices go to waste, but strengthen the role of Greece in our common family. Remembering this path is our future legacy, reminding us the need for hard work, commitment to the goals and, above all, highlighting a spirit of cooperation with other countries, with other EU citizens, with all public institutions of our common edifice, so that Greece can play a leading role and obtain the benefits pursued to the maximum possible degree ".
Closing, Mr Papadimoulis remarked: "Greece's accession to the EU - then EEC - was a right choice that should be attributed to the Prime Minister of the time, Konstantinos Karamanlis. I come from that part of the Left, which, right from the start, favoured Greece's accession to the EEC. However, after 40 years and looking at Greece’s current status in the EU, as one of EU’s poorest countries also presenting the highest unemployment rates, sets us before new challenges. We need changes in Greece, in order to upgrade our country’s position in a Europe that still remains an arena of highly competitive interests. We need better administration, we need to combat clientelism and corruption and advance our economy to be more open to the challenges of the future. And at the same time, at the European Parliament level, we argue by a large majority, that Europe itself needs to accelerate and upgrade its integration policy to become politically stronger, more democratic, more social and more capable of meeting the two great future challenges, the green and digital transition, leaving no one behind, and reducing major social and regional inequalities ".
