The President of the Hellenic Republic Constantine An. Tassoulas attended the swearing-in ceremony and awarded diplomas to the 29th Promotion of Candidate Embassy Attachés at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Mr. Tassoulas’ greeting follows:
“You ought to bear in mind, gentlemen—you will understand why he says only gentlemen—that the career you have chosen is the most brilliant of all those which, along with the military, the Greek State can offer. A diplomat must possess not only virtues, but also charisma. I will not dwell on the virtues of character and intellect, which I am sure you possess, since you have excelled in the fifteen-day Exam, which is the most difficult public Examination task in Greece.
The Diplomat, gentlemen, and especially the Greek diplomat, who represents a glorious but unfortunately small state, must be elegant in appearance, manners and thought, and must conscientiously devote himself to social life so that, through his personal charm, and the grace of speech, he becomes the indispensable companion of every gathering in whose circles he will be able to obtain valuable information and circulate his own thoughts in accordance with the instructions of his capital.”
That is the opening address of the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the four new embassy attachés, before their swearing-in ceremony, at the end of September 1939, which I recalled because this excerpt is included in the famous five-volume book by the Academic and distinguished diplomat Angelos Vlachos, “Once Upon a Time, a Diplomat.” And to take up the baton from the Foreign Minister, you see that in 1939, 86 years ago, the importance of your mission had more to do with the style of the diplomat. Today, the importance of your mission has to do with the complex and rapidly changing environment in which you will be operating and which, if we expect anything to change rapidly, it will become even more rapid, and the changes you will always have to deal with and the fluidity of circumstances will follow one after another.
In fact, someone who saw the new factors that are involved in shaping government positions on international issues, in the international scene, and said that in the past only states exercised foreign policy, whereas now many factors have come into play, especially with the advent of communication technology, added that as things are developing, we are in danger of remembering something that has not happened.
It is therefore such the fluidity that you must remain poise with your knowledge, with the experience you will gradually acquire and with the guidance of your superiors to manage all that uncertainty, and not to place so much importance on style but, I repeat, on your poise, the experience you will gradually gain, and the knowledge you have proven you possess by succeeding in one of the most difficult, if not the most difficult Examination of the Public Sector. Today’s swearing-in ceremony is therefore a milestone for you, as it marks the completion of your path towards achieving your goal, and you deserve warm congratulations for getting here, obviously after hard work, which has been proven by your success.
Your mission in the service of your country begins now. Consider the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as your second family and your home. And do not forget that you will be the image of Greece in all your activities. Your service duties will include a variety of responsibilities and important tasks, always with the aim of supporting our national interests. And you can see here that our stance on our international orientation has been firm and stable, dare I say, since January 1, 1822. The country’s orientation was towards Europe, towards the West, and we express this in the Declaration of Independence of Epidaurus, where the Greeks of that time, rebelled against the Ottoman Empire and the yoke that had been imposed on Greece for centuries, put Europe, literally Europe, which they named as the benchmark of their expectations and as the model they wanted our country to reach at some point.
And they say that we are fighting for freedom, honor, ownership, values enjoyed by the privileged peoples of Europe. And since then, the West, Europe, this orientation has been our outward gaze, our aspiration, and for decades now we have not simply been oriented, we are a member state of Europe and we are called upon to address, in recent years, not a concern about our orientation, because that is a constant, but rather a concern about the change that seems to be taking place in the international architecture established after 1945, in relation, as it has precisely been rightly said, to multilateralism and to the benefit of bilateral relations, in relation to the prevalence of international law and in relation to the prevalence of the strongest. We are therefore seeing significant changes, which we must handle with poise and based on a historical rather than a circumstantial perspective.
And that is what you will also be called upon to serve. Supporting therefore of our national interests. You will also have the honor of representing Greece in foreign countries and international organizations.
In order for our country to have the representation it deserves, you must continuously seek to further your education and upgrade your recognized abilities. Our country’s term as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the current period 2025-2026, is equivalent to strengthening its role and status and increasing its influence on global developments.
You are therefore starting your term of office amid visible and dramatic developments in the Middle East and Ukraine, in our wider region, in order to limit ourselves to the nearby conflicts. The Middle East is a region in our neighborhood, whose peoples have had close historical and cultural ties with our country since ancient times. Consequently, it is naturally one of the priorities of Greek foreign policy.
The Palestinian issue is at the heart of our efforts to consolidate peace, security, and stability in the region. Our country contributes at both the bilateral and regional levels, as well as within the framework of the EU, in every effort to resolve it towards a two-state solution based on international law and the relevant UN resolutions.
Now, regarding Ukraine. From the very moment of the Russian invasion, our country took a very clear position in favor of preserving the territorial integrity of the invaded country and maintains that only Ukraine can make decisions on issues concerning its own sovereignty and territorial integrity. It is clear that a solution without Ukraine’s consent constitutes indirect recognition and reward of revisionist views. Globally, as well. Let us consider the fait accompli that Turkey is seeking in Cyprus and Ankara’s claims in the Aegean. Let us consider what would happen and what we would be admitting if we did not take this stance. Indeed, for the Greek side, adherence to the principles and rules of international law is a fundamental principle against the prevalence of the logic of the strongest.
And it is not only a political choice, which, at the end of the day, may be subject to changes in political priorities or political representation. It is something deeper. I remind you that in Article 2, paragraph 2, of our Constitution, which has remained unchanged since 1975, it is stipulated that “Greece, following the generally recognized rules of international law, seeks to consolidate peace, justice, and the development of friendly relations among peoples and states.”
The position on international law is therefore not a nebulous, romantic, or naive stance that ignores interests, major conflicts, or power, but rather it is a position that is appropriate for Greece and of constitutional significance, without, I repeat, being considered that we ignore the other parameters.
They are therefore extremely interesting, ladies and gentlemen, the global developments that you will be working on from the very beginning of your careers. With today’s swearing-in ceremony, an interesting professional journey begins, an interesting journey of service. Your career will be “full of adventures, full of knowledge,” as the poet says.
I wish you all a successful career and because in addition to my best wishes, I wanted there to be something tangible from the Presidency of the Republic to remind you of this day, on which you complete your studies, allow me, at the end of this event, to give you a small package with a gift from the Presidency of the Hellenic Republic to you, with two books that I consider very useful. One is a volume from an international conference on the topic “From Sevres to Lausanne.” It covers the thirty months of a journey that began with the ultimately illusory, as it unfortunately proved to be, culmination of the Treaty of Sevres to Lausanne, which still defines our borders today. These thirty months span from August 1920 to early 1923. The second book concerns a conference held for one of the country’s greatest post-war diplomats, Vironas Theodoropoulos.
I am certain that these two books, published by the Hellenic Parliament Foundation, will be useful to you if you do not already have them, as I gather from your subtle suggestions.
Once again, I congratulate you and I thank you for the contribution that you will undoubtedly make to your country, and I also congratulate all the staff of the Diplomatic Academy who have worked so hard to ensure that Greece has such presentable and promising potential in the new blood of its diplomats. May you all be well!
