“Greece is a great nation to which we Europeans owe a lot; Greece is one of the axes of stability in the Balkans”, underlined the President of the European Commission during his speech before an extraordinary session of the Parliament in Athens Thursday.
He told Greek Parliament MPs and political leaders present that “we cannot let Greece handle the migrant crisis alone,” while addressing another sensitive issue that has further strained Greek-Turkish relations: incarceration. prolonged by two Greek soldiers in the neighboring country. .
“The two Greek soldiers detained in Turkey must be released,” he stressed.
In other comments from the podium of the Greek Parliament, Juncker praised what he called the will and perseverance of the Greek people, adding that he was moved by the fact that he was the first Commission president to address “the representatives of a people that I love so much”.
“Greece can now raise its head and turn a page (in its history). It opens a new chapter in Greek history, a crucial moment for Greece and Europe. Europe without Greece is an incomplete structure “But Greece without Europe would be just another country, when in reality it is not just any other country,” he argued.
In other statements, he also touched on the wider region, saying the Western Balkans need a European perspective in order to avoid repeating the tragedies of the 1990s.
“The Commission has proposed the start of (accession) negotiations with Albania and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM); this does not mean that we have given a date, or even an accession date. will be judged objectively. For FYROM, during my visit to Parliament, I said that I cannot provide a solution. I can only say that there is an urgent need to resolve the name issue (between Athens and Skopje),” he stressed.
Juncker further praised his hosts, emphasizing that “the Greeks have shown the whole world that they know how to write history. They refused to bow their heads and became architects and not slaves of history. I have always remained a faithful friend of Greece, even when there were populists and demagogues in Europe who wanted the country to leave the Eurozone; I have always spoken openly and sincerely to the Greek people, in respect for his dignity.”
Concluding his speech, the President of the European Commission declared in Greek: “Long live European Greece, long live Greek Europe”.
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