Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos criticised the central European countries for failing to adhere to the rules of solidarity that govern the European Union.
Mr. Pavlopoulos addressed the 13 heads of state of the Arraiolos group, in Malta during the second day of an informal meeting.
“When there are economic policy rules, you have to enforce them immediately. However, when we are referring to the rule of solidarity, exceptions and objections start to arise. I, too, could raise objections to Greece’s economic programme and the mistaken estimates made by those responsible. The rulings of the EU Court on solidarity must be respected. I cannot accept that the European Court of Justice has issued a ruling, but some have their own positions. There cannot be cherry-picking in the implementation of EU and ECJ rulings,” Pavlopoulos said.
He also referred to the modern security challenges in the Mediterranean region and the need for solidarity between the EU member-states.
Mr. Pavlopoulos continued by focusing on the need to tackle the security challenges in the Mediterranean region, claiming it is much more a question of implementing existing provisions of primary European law, which unfortunately have so far been inactive, and less a question of amending or supplementing these provisions.