Meetings of the President of the Hellenic Parliament with his Armenian, Albanian and Georgian counterparts

The President of the Hellenic Parliament Mr. Constantine Tassoulas had successive meetings with his counterparts, the President of the Armenian Parliament Mr. Alen Simonyan, the Speaker of the Albanian Parliament Ms Lindita Nikolla and the President of the Georgian Parliament Mr. Kakha Kuchava, who are participating in the two-day Conference of Presidents of Parliament of the Council of Europe member-states that kicks off tomorrow.

During these meetings, the President of the Hellenic Parliament stressed the need to strengthen the interparliamentary cooperation aiming primarily at the immediate and decisive protection of the environment “as an exercise of the essential survival of our planet and our people”.

During the meeting with the President of the Armenian National Assembly Mr. Tassoulas underlined the “common values and prospects” as well as the “similar historic difficulties”. The President mentioned the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the Hellenic Parliament, as well as the recognition of the Pontic Greek Genocide and the Assyrian genocide by Armenia. He highlighted the exemplary cooperation between the two parliaments in a European twinning programme where the Greek side contributes to the broadening and the completion of all the necessary procedures in order to implement the EU-Armenia partnership.

"I am confident that we will jointly contribute to the promotion, improvement and deepening of relations between our countries and, as parliamentarians, we will make every effort in this direction," Mr. Simonyan replied.

Welcoming the Speaker of the Albanian Parliament, Mr. Tassoulas stressed that "the two countries today are united by the Greek national minority in Albania, with historical roots, and a large number of Albanians who created the myth of their modern life in our country.  These two population groups will further strengthen our bilateral relations."

Ms. Nikolla, in her response, expressed her gratitude "for the cooperation of the two countries, as two strategic partners in NATO, but also for the support from Greece to the European course of Albania". She pointed out that "the Albanian community in Greece and the Greek minority in Albania are bridges of cooperation, for the better quality of life of which we are committed to cooperate." She thanked our country for the help offered to the Albanian people after the catastrophic earthquake of 2019, but also for sending vaccines to deal with the health crisis.

Shortly afterwards, Mr. Tassoulas met with the President of the Georgian Parliament, who assured him that "Greece supports Georgia's Euro-Atlantic aspirations", recognizing "the very good and methodical steps of the friendly country towards its european course", and also referred to the "historical ties strengthened by the presence of Greeks in Georgia and Georgians in Greece." The President of the Hellenic Parliament also expressed his optimism for the "young politicians, pro-europeans, in modern democracies", who can face in a positive way the difficult problems and the great challenges of our time.

"I feel I am visiting friends who support my country's territorial integrity and its accession to the European Union and NATO," Mr. Kuchava said. He stressed that "Georgia is living in very interesting times and its people have made the historic choice to turn to the European Union", noting that "very brave reforms and ambitious steps will be needed, so that by 2024, we can be ready to submit our application for membership in the European Union ".

At the end of tonight's bilateral meetings, Mr. Tassoulas went to the exhibition hall of the former Tobacco Factory, to welcome the Presidents/Speakers of the Parliaments of the Council of Europe member states, who will participate in the Conference.