Athens, 26 May 2022

Meeting of President of Hellenic Parliament with Minister-President of Bavaria and delegation of Bavarian State Parliament

The need for Greece and Bavaria to intensify their cooperation in order to address "the common dangers that in the last three months have affected every notion of national sovereignty, integrity, respect of borders and humanity, through the invasion of Ukraine by Russia" said the President of the Hellenic Parliament Constantine Tassoulas, welcoming today at the Parliament the Minister-President of Bavaria Markus Söder. 

Mr Söder is visiting our country as the Head of a delegation of the Bavarian State Parliament and the Parliamentary Group of Bavaria's Christian Social Union (CSU). 

The President of the Parliament praised the "very close relations" between Greece and Germany, noting that our country's relations with Bavaria could develop further, especially in the fields of digital transition and energy cooperation. 

Mr Tassoulas made special reference to environmental protection, stressing that "climate change is the biggest danger that threatens humanity and which Putin's invasion is preventing us from addressing as one of the major issues". He emphasised, at the same time, the urgency of the "unity of free, democratice countries, the EU and NATO, against any effort to change borders, any effort of revisionism, any effort to put aside the development of our countries and the protection of the environment".

For his part, the Head of the CSU Parliamentary Group Thomas Kreuzer said that today's visit in our country had already been planned since 2020 but had to be postponed twice due to the pandemic. As he pointed out, back then "no one was aware of the challenges the world would be facing", referring to the pandemic, Russia's invasion in Ukraine, as well as the energy crisis. "These are issues that we are facing today and will face tomorrow and which can only be solved with joint efforts in Europe and the western world" stressed Mr Kreuzer.

The President of the Bavarian State Parliament Ilse Aigner was represented by the Vice-President Karl Feller who expressed his gratitude and pleasure to be welcomed at the "cradle of democracy", underlining that "here at the Hellenic Parliament important decisions have been made that have helped the country move forward greatly". He also noted that the "city of Munich has drawn many elements from Athens and this is yet another link in our friendship".

The President of the Parliament presented the Minister-President of Bavaria with a round silver box with a decorative carriage wheel bearing the phrase from Herodotus "ΤΥΧΕΙΝ ΑΡΙΣΤΟΝ" ("best of luck").

From the Hellenic Parliament side the following also participated in the meeting: Theodoros Roussopoulos, Chairman of the Greece-Germany Friendship Group, George Mylonakis, Secretary General of the Parliament, Vasilios Bagiokos, Special Secretary of the Parliament and Constantine Economides, Ambassador and Diplomatic Advisor of the Parliament, as well as Antonios Klapsis, Assistant Professor of Diplomacy and International Organisation at the Department of Political Science and International Relations of the University of the Peloponnese. 

From the German side, present at the meeting were also Dr. Ernst Reichel, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Greece and Polyxeni Kapellou, Director of the Hanns-Seidel Foundation in Athens. 

The German delegation was guided around the exhibition "Beholding Liberty! At the Hellenic Parliament, two centuries later."

 

The statements by the Head of the CSU Parliamentary Group and the Vice-President of the Bavarian State Parliament were translated from the Greek interpretation. 

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