Athens, 29 June 2021

Joint session of Standing Committee on National Defence and Foreign Affairs of Hellenic Parliament and Standing Committee on Foreign and European Community Affairs of Italian Chamber of Deputies

Recent developments in the Eastern Mediterranean, the migrant issue, the post-COVID19 era and the Recovery and Resilience Facility (Next Generation EU) were the issues on the agenda of the joint session of the Standing Committee on National Defence and Foreign Affairs of the Hellenic Parliament and the Standing Committee on Foreign and European Community Affairs of the Italian Chamber of Deputies. Greek MPs/members of the Committee were at the Senate Hall where they met with their Italian colleagues via teleconference.

In his introductory remarks, the Chairman of the Standing Committee on National Defence and Foreign Affairs Konstantinos Gioulekas, referring to the migrant issue, stressed that the Dublin regulation as it stands is putting an excessively heavy burden on the countries of entry of migrants flows, such as Greece and Italy, that this cannot continue and that it is imperative to have a joint agreement. “Countries that have objections should realise that the entry countries cannot carry this heavy burden” he pointed out.

On the developments in the Eastern Mediterranean, Mr. Gioulekas repeated the firm position of the Greek government that our country wishes to keep communication open and maintain good relations with Turkey, always on the basis of international law and with mutual respect for the fundamental rights of the two countries. “We cannot have an EU candidate country threatening two full EU members such as Greece and Cyprus” stressed Mr. Gioulekas, underlining that the EU’s tolerance should not be misconstrued by Turkey as a sign of weakness but as a sign of good will.

Regarding EU enlargement in the Western Balkans, Mr. Gioulekas stressed that Greece wishes that all Balkan countries would join the EU, as long as they follow the indicated procedures and respect what has been agreed.

For his part, the Chairman of the Standing Committee on Foreign and European Community Affairs of the Italian Chamber of Deputies Piero Fassino, emphasised the need to develop a more courageous and effective migration policy, so as not to overburden entry countries such as Greece and Italy. He also announced the preparation by the Standing Committee of Foreign and European Community Affairs of the Italian Chamber of Deputies of a draft set of positions on migration, so that after the discussion a text can be jointly formulated with the Standing Committee on National Defence and Foreign Affairs of the Hellenic Parliament.

Mr. Fassino also suggested that the parliamentary Committees of the two countries work together more often, given the common problems and issues of common interest that concern them.

This was followed by a discussion and exchange of views between Greek and Italian MPs.

 

 

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