Athens, 16 February 2021

Joint meeting of Standing Committee on National Defence and Foreign Affairs of Hellenic Parliament and Foreign Affairs Committee of Portuguese Parliament via teleconference

The pandemic, developments in the Eastern Mediterranean due to Turkish provocations, as well as the refugee-migrant issue were the main topics of discussion, via teleconference, between members of the Standing Committee on National Defence and Foreign Affairs of the Hellenic Parliament and members of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Portuguese Parliament. 

The Chairman of the Standing Committee on National Defence and Foreign Affairs, Konstantinos Gioulekas, started by saying that in these “unprecedented times” caused by the pandemic, “the messages of the Portuguese Presidency are very timely, for a social and resilient Europe”. He made special reference to provocations by Turkey, which, he underlined, goes so far as to directly question the sovereign rights and national sovereignty of two EU member states, Greece and Cyprus. Mr. Gioulekas noted that these provocations “cannot be left unanswered”, asking for the tangible solidarity of the entire EU. Regarding the refugee-migrant issue, the Chairman stressed that Greece “cannot carry a disproportionate burden”, rather than the one that corresponds to it, a burden, as he said, “that ought to be proportionately carried by the entire EU, so that it's not just the host countries, such as Greece, that end up with it”. 

MP and New Democracy Rapporteur, Athanasios Davakis, took the floor and focused on the issues of Greeks of the diaspora, underlining the need to protect their rights, using the example of the Greek minority in Albania, which, as he pointed out, “has many times fallen prey to systematic efforts to seize their assets and impinge upon their rights”. Referring to Turkish provocations, Mr. Davakis underscored that a coordinated common action at EU level could send the clear message to countries such as Turkey that threats against EU member states and the systematic violation of International Law, are behaviours that don't become a state that wishes to have a good relationship with the EU. 

The representative of the main opposition, Georgios Katrougalos, made it clear during his intervention that the refugee-migrant issue cannot be addressed exclusively by border countries such as Greece and Portugal. “These issues cannot but be resolved through respect for International Law, the principle of solidarity and in a way that will distribute the burden arising from managing this crisis equally across the board” he added. 

MP Andreas Loverdos from Movement for Change referred to the issues the EU will be called upon to address after the end of the pandemic. As the MP mentioned “poverty, unemployment and rising debt in member states are problems we will face once we return to stable conditions in health care”.  

In his intervention, the representative from Greek Solution, MP Antonis Mylonakis, stressed that Turkey's provocations against our homeland are becoming increasingly intense, while the refugee-migrant issue is a major problem for Greece. 

For her part, the representative of DiEM25, MP Sofia Sakorafa, underlined that Portugal's silence vis-à-vis Turkish aggression towards Greece and Cyprus is a matter of great concern. 

Lastly, the Vice-President of the Standing Committee on National Defence and Foreign Affairs and New Democracy MP, Anastasios Dimoschakis, focused on the refugee and migrant issue, noting that it is not exclusively a Greek issue, but that it concerns the EU as a whole. “This is why negotiations on the New Pact on Migration and Asylum are of the essence”. 

The meeting was attended by the Ambassador of Greece in Lisbon, Mr. Ioannis Metaxas, as well as the Ambassador of Portugal in Athens, Mrs. Helena Paiva. MPs Andreas Nikolakopoulos, Ioannis Bournous and Theodora Tzakri also took the floor via the teleconference service. 

 

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