by
Dan Alexe
“That region, the Western Balkans, is like a hole in the European map”
(Dimitris Kourkoulas, Greek Minister for European affairs)
In the middle of the Greek presidency, New Europe asked Dimitris Kourkoulas, Deputy Foreign Minister in the Greek government and Minister in charge of European affairs and of the Greek presidency, for an assessment of what Athens has achieved in the first half of its presidency:
Dimitris Kourkoulas: I think that if you look at the way the Greek presidency has managed to deal with all legislative proposals entrusted to it, and that we managed to find a lot of compromises between the Parliament and the Council, which is one of the main task of any presidency, we have been very successful indeed. We have been able to push through Parliament a great deal of urgent files. All in all, in just 12 weeks of presidency, we have a number of more than 36 important dossiers that have been adopted. Of course, our main goal is to obtain an agreement on the Single Resolution Mechanism. We will know in a few days if we have been successful in this.
New Europe: This is something that you have inherited from the Lithuanian presidency.
Dimitris Kourkoulas: Exactly. This is a very big step for the conclusion of our Banking union; a final resolution would be something of great importance for all EU countries, especially for the Southern, Mediterranean countries, to arrive at giving stability to the banking sector all over Europe. If we can’t find a comprise now, then we are going to lose at least one year in order to be able to come back to this.
New Europe: That means that you will have to pass it over to the next presidency.
Dimitris Kourkoulas: Yes, but then we’ll then have another Parliament, and, if you look at the timetables, we can’t obtain a result before twelve months, so we believe it’s extremely important, especially before the European elections, to give a positive signal now. I think Europe is coming out of the crisis now. It is not a secret that Europe wasn’t prepared to face such a crisis, but I think that now we are becoming stronger together, in our economic and monetary union, in order to be able to address such issues, and especially the social damage that has been done, or the big problem of unemployment.
New Europe: So, can you anticipate what would have been your main achievement during this presidency, even if we are only in the middle of it?
Dimitris Kourkoulas: I think our ambition is to play an honest role, not in favour of Greek interests, but of the Europeans’ interests at large. That’s why, apart from the monetary union and unemployment and growth, we have included two very important objectives in our programme. First of all: migration; we believe that it is not normal that EU doesn’t have a comprehensive policy to address this very important phenomenon of migration, legal or illegal, which unfortunately will be with us for many years to come. So I believe we need a more comprehensive policy, and therefore have to take concrete steps. The European Summit in June is going to adopt new strategic directives on this topic. Also, we have to bring home the importance of an integrated maritime policy. This is also very important. Most of the goods are coming to our continent through sea routes. So, security —or rather maritime security— will be one the issues that will be addressed in the next few weeks. And, for the first time, the EU will have a maritime security strategy.
New Europe: Another priority of the Greek presidency, which was announced back in January, was a common policy for the Western Balkans. What are your concrete steps towards helping that region?
Dimitris Kourkoulas : Yes... During the Thessaloniki summit in 2004, the EU endorsed for the first time the idea of a European perspective for the Western Balkans. We are fully supportive of the European perspective of all countries from the Western Balkans. We have a very clear roadmap. The potential candidates also know what has to be done. We are glad that we were able to start accession negotiations with Serbia during our presidency. And we hope that also other countries, all the countries of the region, will be able to make progress. It is of strategic importance for Europe, for Greece first of all, but also for Europe as a whole, to have the Western Balkans in. That region is like a hole in the European map. So, I personally think that the enlargement process has been one of the most successful policies of the EU.
New Europe: Including the accession of Romania and Bulgaria ?
Dimitris Kourkoulas : Of course, and I’m glad that I was personally involved in that process.
New Europe: You don’t think today that it was a mistake to take Romania and Bulgaria in?
Dimitris Kourkoulas : Look, we can’t change a whole society in one, or five, or ten years. Those societies have a different history, they were for many decades isolated from the rest of Europe. They were not exposed to the market economy, to the democratic system. But their progress is impressive. And in any case, Europe’s stability depends on the stability of those countries.
New Europe: When will this enlargement stop? How about the countries of the Eastern Partnership? Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia… Why not take them in too? Do they belong in Europe as well?
Dimitris Kourkoulas: We have offered to those countries partnership agreements. It is a very close type of relationship. But I think the time has not yet come to take further steps with them. Yes, they are Europeans, but it is too early now to establish a timetable for them. For the time being, we will sign association agreements with Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine. It is a very close form of cooperation, without going as far as to offer accession negotiations.
New Europe: Ukraine has been offered a financial package of 11 billion euros. How will this money be spread all over Ukraine? How about Crimea? Will part of the money go to Crimea as well?
Dimitris Kourkoulas : We are used to spending money in very complicated circumstances. Take the example of Cyprus, where theoretically you have the whole of the island being member of the EU, but you also have the occupied part of Cyprus, where the European legislation isn’t implemented. We know how to develop special mechanisms, there is a lot of expertise for that in the EU. Of course, we have to wait and see how the situation evolves in Crimea and Ukraine. Any financial assistance to Ukraine, or to other countries, will have to be accompanied by very strong conditions concerning the use of the money. We don’t want that money to go to the wrong pockets.
New Europe: Will the Cyprus experience be useful for Ukraine, in the case of Crimea?
Dimitris Kourkoulas: There are a lot of differences between the two cases. I am sure the right mechanism will be found.
New Europe: Does it mean that Cyprus will in its turn contribute to these billions for Ukraine?
Dimitris Kourkoulas: Yes, whatever comes from the EU comes from all the member states.
New Europe: When you said that the Western Balkans have a European vocation and that one day they will become EU members, do you include here Kosovo and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia ?
Dimitris Kourkoulas: Sure. I remind you that we are in negotiations with Montenegro and with Serbia. The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is also a candidate country, although negotiations have not yet started. We are very glad that we achieved the launch of a dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina. We, Europeans, must be proud of our positive contribution. This is an example of good diplomacy, because Europe is, and has to remain, a force of peace and stability.
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