Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Dendias’ 3rd intervention at the Plenary Session of the Hellenic Parliament on the Draft Law of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: “Ratification of the Second Protocol of Amendment to the MDCA (12.05.2022)

Thank you, Mr. President.

I will keep my remarks short because, among other things, many colleagues have planes to catch, so what we need to do is conclude the proceedings as soon as possible.

First of all I would like to thank all colleagues, as this debate was conducted in a manner that befits the seriousness of the issue which was on the agenda.

Gone were the harsh remarks and the tension that so often in the distant past characterized debates such as this.

Beyond that, ladies and gentlemen MPs, I believe that we should retain two things.

The first one is that, on the basis of the arguments heard, it was amply proven that this Agreement is particularly beneficial for our national interest.

And there is an essential criterion by which this conclusion is confirmed: when the Prime Minister challenged the main opposition to state whether they will denounce the Agreement, if and when they come to power, they evaded the challenge.

The main opposition merely spoke of re-negotiation, of improvement, of all these things that at the end of the day do not bother. If, sometime in the future, a Greek government managed to achieve a better agreement, then this would be great for the country. We would all be happy about that.

However, the fact that the intention to denounce the agreement has in no way been explicitly stated signifies precisely that the agreement is beneficial.

I would also like, Mr. Kegeroglou, to thank KINAL for its responsible stance and for voting in favour of the Agreement, despite its objections and despite the fact that, as I said before, when the last year of a government’s tenure is dawning, all political parties formulate their positions with the forthcoming elections in mind, and not necessarily according to what they acknowledge to be beneficial.

More than anything else however, Mr. President, I would like to express my appreciation to the New Democracy parliamentary group, the mainstay of the government, because at times of difficulty as regards our national issues they have always stood in our support.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart, ladies and gentlemen MPs.