Dendias: Greece feels a great moral duty to help the whole region to join Europe
Reiterates strong position of Greece, Northern Macedonia and Albania to hold first intergovernmental conferences with EU Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias after meeting with his colleague from Kosovo Donika Grvala-Schwartz, said the MIA correspondent from Athens.
Dendias said the talks focused on the region's European perspective, the situation in the Western Balkans, opportunities for energy co-operation, as well as bilateral relations.
"I reiterated Greece's firm commitment to the integration of the Western Balkans where it belongs, into the European family, emphasizing the strong position for organizing the first intergovernmental conferences with Albania and Northern Macedonia," Dendias said.
Speaking about the region, he stressed that Greece's will is for the Western Balkans to be energetically connected to the TAP gas pipeline through interconnectors.
He added that conditions should be created to strengthen stability and said that Greece, as the first Balkan country to become part of the European family, feels "a great moral duty to help the whole region to join Europe" and will always help efforts to "Creating bridges of cooperation and peaceful coexistence in the region with the common ultimate goal of a better European future for all."
- Our opinion is that the Western Balkans must look to the future, not the past. The Western Balkans, all Western Balkan countries should have good relations with all countries in the wider region, but the perspective that is a one-way street is Europe, Dendias said, adding that European legislation, democracy, rule of law, protection of human rights is "political , an economic, cultural compass, not a return to the 19th century ”.
Greek FM to visit Croatia tomorrow, to accompany next week Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis during his visit to Belgrade.
Regarding relations with Kosovo, he reiterated that Greece follows a "constructive approach in line with the neutral, in terms of status, approach of the European Union" and appealed to the parties involved in the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue to show a constructive attitude.
Source: MIA
