[Greeting in Croatian]
Dear Gordan, with your permission, I will now continue in English, that is as far as I can go [in Croatian]. It is such a great pleasure for me to visit Croatia for the third time in a short period of time. And my Prime Minister, Prime Minister Mitsotakis, is going to visit Croatia as well within a few weeks’ time.
The pace of these meetings bears witness to the outstanding bilateral bonds that Greece and Croatia have built. And I have to say that I want to thank you all for appreciating the role of the Greek companies in infrastructure for creating a better future for Croatia.
Earlier today, thanks to your kind invitation, I had the opportunity to participate in the Conference on the future of Europe. I was glad to have had the opportunity to engage with students, with Europe’s next generation, Europe’s future and hope.
During our discussions we had the opportunity to address common challenges, and I have repeatedly underlined that the issues we are facing are mostly not national issues, but European issues that should be addressed by the EU countries all together, for example migration.
I want to use this opportunity to reiterate Greece’s full support for Croatia’s bid to join Schengen, the Eurozone, as well as the OECD. And I have to express our deep appreciation that you have joined the EU MED9.
We discussed our economic cooperation. It goes very well, but we can do more.
And also, we reaffirmed our strong commitment, as EU partners and Allies, to our common values and principles, as well as our common vision for security, stability and prosperity in Southeastern Europe.
We, Greece and Croatia, stand for International Law and good neighborly relations.
And I had, in this respect, the opportunity to underline that for Greece, the integration of the Western Balkans in the European family constitutes a one-way street. As we were the first country of the region to join the then EEC, forty years ago, we feel we have a moral duty to help those still left outside Europe. We fully support the convening of the first intergovernmental conference with Albania and North Macedonia, sooner rather than later.
Yesterday, I was visited in Athens by the Kosovar Foreign Minister, Donika Gervalla-Schwarz. I encouraged her to continue the efforts undertaken in the framework of the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue. We believe that progress in this dialogue will bring the region closer to Europe. And I passed a clear message, that we support the efforts of the EU Special Representative Miroslav Lajčák. This is also the message that my Prime Minister, Prime Minister Mitsotakis, will carry to Belgrade where we will be travelling next week.
Unfortunately, today we also focused our discussions in the very worrying developments in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I had the opportunity to stress to Gordan my impression that the Western Balkans’ countries should develop good neighbourly relations with the countries of the broader region. But also, they should avoid falling into the trap of rolling back to 19th century practices, disguised nowadays as neo-ottoman or nationalistic ambitions; carried out by manipulating religious, historic and cultural affinities.
I would like to stress that Greece has no vested interest in Bosnia and Herzegovina apart from ensuring stability, prosperity and a European future for that country. There should be no room for nationalism, there should be no room for neo-ottomanism. And we clearly understand the sensitivities of the Croats in Bosnia. We sincerely fear that the destabilisation of Bosnia and Herzegovina could easily spill over and affect the whole region. And we cannot allow this to happen.
That is the reason that I am very pleased to be here today and discuss with Gordan how we can address the phenomenon. Because together with Croatia, together with Gordan, and other like-minded states, we can work, also in the Council of Ministers, to ensure the long-sought European path for the Western Balkans, Bosnia and Herzegovina included.
I don’t bring news, news to you, by saying that an Agreement on the electoral law should be reached in Bosnia and Herzegovina sooner rather than later.
Dear Gordan, let me again thank you for your very warm hospitality, the very fruitful discussions. And I will see you on Monday in Brussels and again in a few days in Zagreb.
Thank you so much for your reception and your hospitality.
Thank you.