Athens , 1 June 2011

Mr. Droutsas: It is a great pleasure to welcome Mr. Bercow, the Speaker of the House of Commons, to Greece. I think this is a further indication of the very close relations between our two countries. I am sincerely happy you are visiting us. It is a pleasure and honor to have you here in our country and it is an excellent opportunity to discuss various issues of interest to our two countries; domestic and external developments. Once again, a warm welcome.

Mr. Bercow: It is a great pleasure for me to be here, in Athens.  I have had the opportunity over the last couple of days to meet a number of prominent figures in Greek politics, notably my opposite number, the President of the Hellenic Parliament. 

I have met figures from a number of different political parties and I met colleagues in Parliament, from a range of Committees, to whom I was able to talk and from whom I heard last night.  It is a great privilege to meet your Foreign Minister and I have underlined on several occasions, and I underline again, the strength of the bond subsists between Greece and the United Kingdom and the strength of our commitment in the United Kingdom to the relationship that we have long enjoyed with our Greek friends.

We know that this is a testing and difficult time for the Greek economy and the Greek people.  We have a serious situation in our own country, perhaps not quite on the same scale, but very serious and testing, and we are strongly supportive of Greece, of what is a very challenging time. 

And I look forward to hearing from your Foreign Minister, his perspective on the issues and challenges that the Greek society as a whole faces, the foreign policy priorities which he is pursuing and it is a great opportunity for us to have a rewarding conversation, it is something at which I look forward. 

As I say, I think the historic ties, the ties of history, of culture, of economics and indeed of education, between our two countries are hugely important and for a representative of the Mother of Parliaments to come to the home of democracy, does seem to me to have a particular piquancy and relevance.