Athens , 4 December 2000

Mr. Droutsas: Immediately after the completion of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Athens and the important success we had as the Greek Chairmanship, yesterday and today we have been in Brussels at the NATO Council.

Yesterday, we met with the Ministers of Ukraine and Georgia, and a short while ago we completed our meeting on the subject of Afghanistan. And there will be discussions regarding NATO’s new Strategic Concept, the prospects for formulating a policy for the Alliance’s missile defence and NATO’s relations with Russia.

Just to fill out the programme for you, later this afternoon we will have a NATO-Russia Council, and I want to remind you here of the role played by Greece in reactivating this institution, which had been frozen, as you know, following the crisis in Georgia and was reactivated this summer in Corfu, during the Informal Meeting of OSCE Foreign Ministers there.

Yesterday evening at the Foreign Ministers’ dinner, we took an important decision for our region, the Western Balkans. We discussed the Alliance’s Open Door Policy – NATO’s enlargement policy, that is – and we decided on Montenegro’s joining the Membership Action Plan (MAP).

Greece was behind this decision. After all, you are aware of how important a priority the Euroatlantic perspective of the Western Balkans is for the current government.

At this time, the prospect for Bosnia-Herzegovina’s joining the same program – the MAP – is still under discussion. We still haven’t come to our final decisions. But I hope we have a positive outcome in these discussions on Bosnia-Herzegovina.

On the issue of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, we had reaffirmation, once again, of the Bucharest decision and the clear and unanimous position of the Alliance: that the prior resolution of the name issue is a prerequisite for Skopje’s accession to NATO.

On the issue of Afghanistan, U.S. Secretary of State Clinton presented the new strategy set out a few days ago by President Obama. It is a strategy that Greece welcomes, because it confirms our common commitment to peacemaking in this country, Afghanistan, and it underscores the importance and value of the huge efforts that have been made by each country in the alliance – according to their capabilities – so far. As well as what will continue to be done.

We also welcome this because it is the first time that not only the ultimate purpose, but also the timeframe for achieving it have been set down clearly. And Greece, faithful to its commitments, will continue to support this joint effort on both a military level – based on the well-known recent decisions of the Government Council of Foreign Affairs and Defense – as well as the effort specifically on the development level, given the importance of creating conditions of security, stability and progress for the people of Afghanistan.

Conditions that I believe are necessary if the people of Afghanistan are to take on the responsibility for maintaining peace in the country, which is, in the end, the only sustainable prospect.

Now we will continue our discussion, as I said, with plans for the Strategic Concept and missile defence. The discussion on both of these issues is still in the early stages. Afterwards, there will be a meeting of NATO members with Russia, with the participation of Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, who we hosted the day before yesterday in Athens, where we had a bilateral meeting with him.

That’s it for today’s programme. I don’t know whether you have any questions.

Journalist: Was anything additional asked of us today regarding Afghanistan?

Mr. Droutsas: No, nothing has been requested. That was not the purpose of today’s discussion. There was a discussion with all of the NATO allies, with the participation of all of the countries participating in the action in Afghanistan. There was also a presentation, as I said, by Ms. Clinton of President Obama’s new proposals.

We were also briefed by the Foreign Minister of Afghanistan on how he sees the situation. And each country had the opportunity to express its views and what it plans to do in the future.

Journalist: How is the discussion progressing in the Council in light of the preparations for the European Council and the text of the conclusions on Euro-Turkish issues?

Mr. Droutsas: On Monday we have a Council of Foreign Ministers. It is an important Council, because it will look at issues that concern us directly – particularly the issue of Turkey’s evaluation. And on this, Greece and Cyprus want the same thing: we want to get the 27 partners to a common position so that this position has value as well as substantial political weight.

A position based on a rigorous and objective evaluation of what Ankara has done, as we have said repeatedly. At this time, there is in fact a difference of opinions. In fact, I would say a considerable difference in views. This is not an easy discussion, and all eventualities are open until Monday, when the Council takes place.

But I would like to stress once again that Greece and Cyprus are in constant, daily contact; we are constantly coordinating our positions – the Prime Minister with President Christofias, and myself with Markos Kyprianou. In fact, just a short while ago, Mr. Kyprianou contacted me, as we had agreed, to brief me on the results of the discussions that took place today in Cyprus during the session of the National Council.

So I would like to stress once again that Greece and Cyprus are coming to the negotiations together so that we can achieve the best possible result for our interests, which are also the interests of the European Union.

We have made it clear from the outset that Greece, the Greek government, will fully support the decisions of the government of the Republic of Cyprus. We will support them to the end. We will be on the front line, side by side.

Thank you very much.