Greece ‘s Government Vice President, Foreign Minister and PASOK Party leader,Evangelos Venizelos, during a press conference held in Athens, to mark the conclusion of the Greek Presidency of the European Council, made an assessment of Greece’s Presidency in figures. More specifically, as he said, during these six months:
– 161 meetings were held in Athens, 21 of which were ministerial.
– 36 European Council sessions were held in Brussels and Luxembourg
– More than 12,000 members of delegations were welcomed at the Zappio Hall, not including over 3,000 journalists, technicians and communications people.
– Spending for the Presidency amounted to 18-19 million euros, or 30% less of the alreadyreduced initial budget.
Venizelos said the presidency cost an estimated €19 million, around 30% of the budget Athens had allocated of €50 million ($70 million).
The British embassy in Athens described “the very small expenditure [as] a great example to set”.
But Filippa Chatzistavrou, a research fellow at the Hellenic foundation for European and Foreign Policy (Eliamep), argued that Greece’s presidency had been “drab”.
“We did the minimum required… we could have done more” to improve the country’s own well-documented problems, such as high youth unemployment and immigration, she told AFP.
“There was more Greece could have done to help itself,” she said, pointing to Italy, another of the European Union’s highly indebted states which takes over the EU presidency until the end of the year.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has called for more room for growth in the EU stability pact, and also appears determined to seek changes to EU rules governing asylum applications for immigrants.
“Greece also had reason to push for this, but did not,” Chatzistavrou said.
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
