Greece’s Prime Minister, Antonis Samaras will meet tomorrow (11.12.2013) in Athens with the President of the Republic of Lithuania, Dalia Grybauskaitė.
A delegation of members of the Greek government, led by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras met yesterday (4.12.2013) in Brussels with the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso. In joint statements, following a series of meetings with the College of Commissioners ahead of Greece's Presidency in January 2014, José Manuel Barroso welcomed the next Greek Presidency of the Council of the EU commencing on 01/01/2014 as a great opportunity for the country, noting that the Commission would offer all its support to make it a success.
The priorities of the Greek Presidency of the Council of the European Union were presented by Greece’s Permanent Representative to the EU, Ambassador Theodoros Sotiropoulos, at the European Policy Center (EPC) in Brussels, on 29 November 2013.
Each country holding the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union selects its own presidency logo, which serves as an integral visual symbol for the Presidency: a defining feature of each Presidency’s identity and a statement conveying its message to Europe and the world. The logo and the associated graphic design work will feature in the Presidency’s publications and online presence, in decorations in the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels and in venues that will host official presidency events.
Secretary Generals, Ambassadors, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to welcome you to this event in view of the Hellenic Presidency of the Council of the European Union, which is the fifth presidency that the Hellenic Republic is undertaking, since its accession to the then European Communities.
The Greek Presidency of the Council of the European Union, which begins on 1 January 2014, is Greece’s fifth since its accession to the then European Economic Community (EEC), in 1981. In contrast to the previous Presidency – from January to June 2003 – which added another milestone in the EU’s enlargement process with the accession of 10 new member states, the next one comes at a turning point, as most of Europe has been grappling with years of financial and economic crisis, recession and unemployment.
The provisional website of the upcoming Greek Presidency of the Council of the European Union will function until mid-December 2013, when it will be replaced by its final version.
Upon the invitation of French President François Hollande, twenty four European leaders participated, on Tuesday 12 November 2013, at a Conference in Paris in order to discuss the issue of youth unemployment, which has been pointed out as one of the most pressing problems that Europe currently faces.
