CONSTANTINE AN. TASSOULAS: Your Excellency, Mr. President, it is with great pleasure that I welcome you to Athens and to the Presidential Mansion. Your presence here seals something very important. It seals the historic ties between our countries and the long-standing relations of friendship and cooperation between us.
But there is also something else, Mr. President. Your presence marks the expansion and broadening of these historic ties and these friendly relations. Thanks to the strategic partnership agreement on defense and security which will be renewed tomorrow, these relations are expanding. In addition, we have other agreements that highlight the multifaceted and excellent bilateral relationship of our countries, agreements concerning defense, the economy, civil protection, innovation and more.
Our relationship, Mr. President, is not limited to our own time. I spoke of historical ties. Let’s go back two centuries. Before the strategic agreement we signed five years ago in Paris, there was another strategic cooperation even before Greece was internationally recognized as a state. At the Naval Battle of Navarino, France participated in the Allied Fleet, which defeated the Ottoman Fleet, contributing decisively to the Greek Revolution against the Ottoman Empire.
A year after the Naval Battle of Navarino, another strategic alliance. The French expeditionary force in the Peloponnese and the French scientific mission, also in the Peloponnese, Mr. President, demonstrated that these relations have great historical depth. A few years after the founding in Athens of the French School, the first French School, which was founded by your country and the first international academic institution accepted by Greece in 1846, demonstrate that this relationship, which will be further expanded tomorrow, has strong foundations.
Continuing, I would like to stress, Mr. President, that this friendship and cooperation, which has evolved into an alliance, has recently been tested in practice and has proven effective in practice, culminating in your contribution and Greece’s participation, together with France and other European countries, in response to the request from Cyprus for defense assistance.
Your Excellency, Mr. President, we live in a world full of uncertainty and multiple crises. But this alignment between our two countries certainly sets an example of a model relationship, and at the same time confirms that Europe’s strategic autonomy can be achieved through such bilateral relationships. We are in a critical period in which international peace, the international legal order, is under attack, undermined by revisionist tendencies and by revisionists that, Mr. President, are even members of the United Nations Security Council. So, what do we do? We remain committed to the value and necessity of applying International Law. And this commitment is the only path that can lead to international peace, to security and prosperity of the modern world.
Mr. President, in the last century, during the 1960s and 1970s, important, prominent, historical figures from our two countries consolidated the modern form of our bilateral relations. Konstantinos Karamanlis, on the Greek side, during two phases of his premiership, General de Gaulle on behalf of France and Valéry Giscard d’Estaing were the figures who built the foundations upon which our exceptional relationship is based. And with this acknowledgment, of this exceptional relationship that continues to improve, even with your phrase a few minutes ago that “France will be here for Greece whenever needed,” it is further strengthened by your presence. I would like to commend this relationship and your stance and to wish, Mr. President, that your meetings tomorrow with the Greek government will bring excellent results for the benefit not only of the two peoples, France and Greece, but also for the benefit of our European edifice.
I therefore welcome you and wish you every success in your mission.
EMMANUEL MACRON (from unofficial translation): Thank you, Mr. President, for your welcome and for your kind words. I think you have aptly described the historical depth and strength of our relations. Indeed, at this point, I would like to recall that Greece and France are bound by a mutual, deep friendship. Philhellenism has been very important in the history, philosophy and literature of France. It has nourished it. I believe our nations have something in common. They think beyond their narrow boundaries. They always have a universal view of existence and history. That is what unites us. The 20th century was a period during which there were also some difficult times. Our countries experienced great tragedies. But I believe that since democracy returned to Greece, the motto “Greece-France Alliance” has held true. And I believe that these recent years have marked a new course in the context of global uncertainty, as you very rightly characterized it. Our relationship has now evolved into a strategic partnership that has been further consolidated since 2021. The aircraft, the frigates, our continuous presence, our shared perspective on European Union issues. And tomorrow, indeed, it is this strategic alliance that will allow us to strengthen this partnership on defense and security issues, but it will also complement it in the fields of culture, where we, of course, have a long-standing cooperation, as well as in research, science, economic life, and energy.
There is no area in which we will not consolidate and further strengthen our strategic partnership. And I truly believe that a new era is dawning, as much as in our bilateral relations, of course, we are very close on European issues, but also more broadly regarding the wider region, the Mediterranean. Here we must underline that France will always be here, will always stand by your side, in the face of every danger, every threat and we will continue to move forward together in the future. In any case, I am extremely grateful for your welcome, Mr. President, I am delighted to be back in Athens and to stand by your side today.
Thank you very much.
