“I want to express my pleasure that the EU Mediterranean countries informal Summit proved that the European south has a future,” said Greek Prime Minister (PM) Alexis Tsipras, in the joint statements with seven country leaders after the completion of the 2nd Summit of the European Union Mediterranean Countries held in Lisbon, on Saturday.
Portugal’sĀ PMĀ Antonio Costa welcomed the country leaders that participated in the SummitĀ earlierĀ today. The leaders included: President of France Francois Hollande, President of Cyrpus Nicos Anastasiades,Ā PM of SpainĀ Mariano Rajoy,Ā PM of Malta Joseph Muscat,Ā PM of Italy Paolo Gentiloni and of course PMĀ Alexis Tsipras.
“The European south is not Europe’s poor relative. Europe needs the European south to strengthen its cohesion, its unity and to recover its social face,” said Tsipras.
Europe needs the European south in order to proceed to an efficient management of the refugee crisis within the context of European values. Europe also needs the south to strengthen its international and regional role for peace and stability in the wider region.
“We agreed to strengthen our efforts in order for Europe to become a vision that will inspire the European people. We also agreed to enhance our efforts to defend the common value of solidarity. Solidarity among all countries of the European Union and of course solidarity that will start from all us that were here today”, said Tsipras.
The Greek Prime Minister also said that “we support Nicos Anastasiades’ efforts for a fair and viable solution of the Cyprus issue. We support efforts of all the countries and governments to restore social cohesion, growth and employment in the European south that in past years has been plagued by the economic crisis”.
Finally, Tsipras thanked other country leaders for their supportĀ of Greece in its effortsĀ to complete the second review of the Greek programme. “This is a message, the message of solidarity among us. A message that isolates those who have irrational demands or intentions which, at the end, deep down I would say, may even seek division. What Europe needs today is unity and determination to move forward for our peoples’ benefit”.
(source: ana-mpa)
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