Athens, 21 March 2023

Meeting of Bureau of Greece-Germany Parliamentary Friendship Group with German federal MPs

 

 The members of the Greece-Germany Friendship Group bureau Theodoros Roussopoulos, Christos Kellas, Kyriaki Malama and the 1st Deputy Chair of the Special Standing Committee on European Affairs Dimitrios Kairides met today with members of the Lower Saxony State Assembly, also members of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation for Greece and Cyprus, to discuss issues of mutual interest and the obvious challenges currently facing Europe.

The Chair of the Friendship Group Theodoros Roussopoulos underscored the Greek-German Bilateral Action Plan, -the 5th round of which was concluded last May in the framework of relevant Inter-Ministerial Consultations held in Berlin-, as a pillar of multi-thematic bilateral cooperation with the purpose of strengthening Greek-German relations. In the framework of the upcoming 6th round, Mr Roussopoulos moreover expressed his expectation for further cooperation deepening in key areas, such as the EU/NATO enlargement, security and energy issues in the Southern Mediterranean region, with a purpose of effectively coordinating actions on these issues. The Greek MP then highlighted Greek government priorities, also noting the operation of the new Holocaust Museum in Thessaloniki and assured of the Hellenic-German Youth Foundation full support through its corresponding office in Thessaloniki. He also emphasised the utmost importance and concern of the Greek people over the pending and time-consuming issue of war reparations, expressing the hope that Germany will consider revising its position on this challenging issue. Mr Roussopoulos also referred to the possibility of moving to the next stage, in terms of making the most of partnerships in the technology and energy sectors, and emphasised the need to take further action to address youth unemployment, even though it seems to be decreasing to single digits this year.

The Deputy Chair of the Friendship Group Christos Kellas, briefly referred to prospects of deepening bilateral relations both via public dialogue and via exchanges at the level of parliamentary friendship groups. He also called for cooperation aimed at the effective protection of the Greek sea and land borders,- which are actually European borders-, as a key requirement for exploring viable solutions regarding the migration issue.

The Friendship Group Secretary Kyriaki Malama, referring to the pre-election period in Greece, emphasised the need for dialogue with citizens to be conducted on  a factual basis of problems, using a pragmatic approach and avoiding political communication clichés. Regarding state digitisation efforts, and reflecting upon the recent railway accident disaster, the MP acknowledged the fact that improvements are still needed to address this challenge. Elaborating upon economy shocks related to the energy crisis, she emphasised that real growth does not yet seem to have spread across the wider society, while the question remains on how the eurozone and countries with a fragile banking system will respond to the looming new global financial crisis. Finally, she called attention to the European visa system dysfunction as an inhibiting factor for the utilisation of migrants as workforce in the agricultural sector, noting that the European migration policy should strive towards balancing the humanistic dimension with the needs for economic growth.

The First Deputy Chair of the European Affairs Committee Dimitrios Kairides focused on Germany’s potential -as being a major pillar of economic stability- to support the dynamics of investments. Moreover, referring to the monitoring of reform efforts carried out by the countries of Southern Europe, he underlined the need for solidarity policies from the countries of the Northern European area.

On the German side, the head of the delegation of federal parliamentarians Dr Mathias Middelberg referred to the remarkable progress achieved in Greece in the fields of renewable energy sources and digitisation. He pointed out that solutions to issues and challenges currently facing Europe will primarily be found through channels of smooth and unimpeded cooperation. At the same time, the German official assured about his country’s intention to smooth out any hindrances or burdens  undermining the two countries’ bilateral relations.

Dr Andre Berghegger Enak Ferlemann, Oliver Grundmann, Fritz Guntzler, Dr Hendrik Hoppenstedt, Anne Janssen, Axel Knoerig, Carsten Muller, Henning Otte, Albert Stegemann, Mareike Lotte Wulf, members of the German delegation, made brief interventions in the presence of officials from the Lower Saxony State Assembly, as well as the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.

 High resolution images







Back