Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Mr President of the Commission, Commissioners, ladies and gentlemen, the chairman of the group of the European Parliament spoke just now about the Odyssey of the Greek Presidency. It was indeed an Odyssey which floated between the Circe of the war in Iraq – perhaps I should remind you that Circe was a wicked witch who had the ability to turn men into pigs – and the good goddess Calypso of the Convention on the Future of Europe which may guide the European Ulysses to the safe haven of the Europe of his dreams. As Europeans and as Greeks, we can be proud of this success, however unhappy we are about the incidents of war we had to address. The Greek Presidency undertook to address both the issue of Iraq and the differences which this war provoked between the Member States of the European Union and between the European Union and the United States. At the summit Councils in February and March, with the promotion and exploitation of the role of the United Nations, the European Union acquired a material presence on the international stage. Public opinion in the European countries recognised and welcomed the contribution by the Community institutions. The European Union is based not only on the principles of democracy, but also on the rejection in principle of war in international relations. The Member States, who have a very bloody history of conflict between them, no longer arm themselves against each other. These principles now need to be consolidated between the Member States, the candidate countries and Europe and its new neighbours as a whole. The Greek Presidency was persistent in its efforts to disseminate these principles in the new and sometimes dangerous areas of responsibility into which enlargement has led Europe. Problems in sensitive areas, such as Cyprus, which the Foreign Ministers in the area have called a sort of powder magazine of the Eastern Mediterranean, were addressed methodically and consistently. Cyprus, if there is the cooperation expected from the Turkish side which, unfortunately, there has still not been but we hope that there will be, can constitute a standard for the coexistence of different nations within the same state. In the same spirit, the Greek Presidency especially promoted the peace process in the Middle East. The current diplomatic procedures in this region are also the result of initiatives by the Greek Presidency. From a wider perspective, it is worth highlighting the guidelines given for the formulation of a new strategy by the European Union, which was worked out down to the last detail by the Council's High Representative. The promotion of European pacifist positions in the Western Balkans and the summit in Thessaloniki resulted, with its decisions, in a significant turn round in relations between Europe and the Western Balkans. With these efforts the world did not become completely safe, but we can say that, thanks to these efforts, the Greek Presidency has bequeathed a much easier or, at least, less difficult task to its successor than it would have had without the methodical, consistent and sometimes inspired work of the Greek Presidency not intervened. (Applause)

Political group: PSE