D. AVRAMOPOULOS: I would like to welcome my good friend and excellent colleague, the Vice President of the Government of Belgium and Minister of Defence of the friend country, Mister Pieter De Crem.
Last week, on the sidelines of the informal Defence Ministers meeting in Vilnius Lithuania, we already had with Mister De Crem a first exchange of views on bilateral matters and, of course, on the relevant community policies.
The emergence of matters concerning mutual European policy in the field of Defence and Security will be one of the key issues of the European Council Meeting in December 2013. Thus, we have cooperated during the preparation of the Meeting agenda.
In order to design and materialise mutual policies in the field of Defence and Security, it is necessary, more than ever, to produce mutual infrastructure and, of course, to support European defence industry. That was discussed by all Defence Ministers in Vilnius, a few days ago; especially, its backbone which is small and medium sized enterprises that have an important role to play at national and European level. Naturally, we can not, and we should not, let them perish.
Their specialization could, and should, be developed in an effort to set off European defence industry as a global actor, a universal player.
Belgium is a friend of Greece. Our bonds are historical and for many decades, for almost two centuries, these relations have been consolidated at all levels. One of the factors that enhanced Greek-Belgian relations is the presence of an important number of Greeks in Belgium; as well as, of course, our cooperation in all international organisations and in the context of the Alliance.
Therefore, all the above confirm our excellent level of relations.
This year alone, as I was informed by the Ambassador of Belgium, we received, and keep on receiving, in our country hundreds of thousands of Belgians who share feel and share our hospitality and enjoy our country.
At this point, I would like to underline that Belgium was, since the first moment, by our side during this difficult financial circumstance for our country. I would like to take this opportunity to ask from Mister De Crem to extend to his government and his people our warm thanks for their friendly attitude during these difficult times our country is going through.
At this critical international circumstance, we share with Belgium the same views and we have the same precepts. With great respect and observance of our allied and international obligations, with fundamental care for the protection of human rights, we point out the need to discover a constant operational and political solution to the big problem, the great Syria issue.
In Vilnius, we discussed a lot with Mister De Crem and other Defence Ministers on this issue. It is true that it we are concerned. As you know, the discovery of a political solution always precedes. We must first strain our resources to achieve this.
The case of Syria is thus characteristic and our wish is to normalize the situation in the Arab world and avoid the spreading of this crisis.
The Greek presidency that begins in January 1st 2014 will be an important reference framework for the promotion of basic community policies on which we operate and cooperate with Belgium.
Therefore, it is a special joy for me today to receive my colleague. I would like to publicly thank him for our excellent cooperation and to tell him that in this place, he can feel at home. Besides, he has already visited Greece about 20 times and I would like to believe that we will have the chance to share with him and his family many beautiful moments; and also, most importantly, to discuss with him useful views concerning our mutual future in Europe.
P. DE CREM: Thank you very much for having the opportunity to meet with you. We had an excellent briefing, as the Minister said, on the giant efforts that the Greek Armed Forces are doing as being a very reliable partner of NATO, also being very active in developing a European vision on Defence policy, and certainly also in this region, where we have a continuous evaluation of political situation.
I also would like to thank very much the Minister and the Greek Government for the opportunity that was granted to Belgium, to participate in the Operation 'Unified Protector', when we could use the basis of Araxos and also Souda Bay. Thank you very much for that.
We met several times already but especially last week in Vilnius, where we had the meeting of European Defence Ministers, on which we agreed on the process and the path towards the European Summit of the end of this year. In this Summit we want to develop the vision on European Defence, in which capabilities, technical Battlegroups, but also our industries, will play a giant role.
We agreed with the Minister to see and consult each other, so that we are able to make a global, joint proposal on that, for the upcoming Summit. I would like to thank the Minister on that, and also add that the relations between Belgium and Greece are very profound, based on mutual respect. In the difficult times, you always could count on the support of Belgium and now, for the first time in a long period, there are signs of optimism, that we will also help you to make realise a better future for your country, its economy and its people.
Thank you very much.
JOURNALIST: Mister Minister, as far as Defence Industries are concerned, I would like to ask if today there will be an inclusive proposal by the Ministry of National Defence.
D. AVRAMOPOULOS: The Ministry has presented its views and the discussions are ongoing. Our positions are explicit and transparent.