Meeting of the President of the Hellenic Parliament with the President of the Parliament of Finland

The President of the Hellenic Parliament, Mr. Constantine Tassoulas, met with the President of the Parliament of Finland, Mrs. Anu Vehicles, this morning, in the framework of the Conference of Presidents of Parliament of the Council of Europe, held in Athens. 

Following the discussion, Mr Tassoulas and Mrs Vehviläinen made the following statements:

C. Tassoulas: "it is with great pleasure that I welcome, my dear colleague, the President of the Parliament of Finland, a friend of Greece, in the framework of the Conference of Presidents of Parliament of the Council of Europe.

We had a very interesting discussion, on our countries’ bilateral issues, which I must say are at an excellent point, but also on the cooperation of our Parliaments, through the Friendship Groups that will be activated now that the circumstances are more favorable, after the closure imposed by the pandemic.

Finland is a technology leader. As technology and digital transition are in the recovery plan of the Greek economy, we discussed ways in which Finland can contribute to facilitating the further digital transition of Greece. 

Finally, we discussed prospects for further strengthening of tourism cooperation, which is - anyway - very positive. Greece is a favorite destination for our friends in Finland and Ms President loves the Greek islands, especially Rhodes and Crete, a fact that gave us the motivation and the opportunity to look for new ways to improve our tourism cooperation.

So I welcome her to the Greek capital and thank her for this very interesting two-day cooperation ".

A. Vehviläinenm: "Thank you, Mr President, and I agree with everything you said. We had, indeed, a very good discussion.

In particular, we talked about the very good relations between our two countries and our parliaments. I listened to all the details that the President told me, informing me about how well the Greek Parliament functioned during the pandemic.

I hope that we will be able to continue with further cooperation in our societies, now that we are returning to normal conditions. "Since tourism, the European Union recovery package and the green transition are issues that affect both countries, I hope that we will be able to work together on these and many other issues."