The President of the Hellenic Republic, Prokopis Pavlopoulos, sent a clear message to Turkey and FYROM, during his meeting with his counterpart from the Republic of Ireland Michael Higgins, at the Presidential Palace, on Thursday. Mr Pavlopoulos said that the actions of invading Greek or any other European territory had long gone, referring to Turkey’s aggressive policies in the Aegean Sea and Cyprus.

The Greek President stressed the need for policies of austerity to end, as they “widened social inequalities within the European Union and fuelled populism”.

Talking about Turkey, Mr Pavlopoulos reiterated the need for respect of the European Acquis and for International Law, while stressing that the Treaty of Lausanne, which guaranteed the borders, territorial integrity and sovereignty of both Greece and the EU, cannot be amended or revised and is absolutely clear without leaving the slightest trace of “grey areas”. He dubbed the notion of “grey zones” as complete fabrications, calling on Turkey to realise and respect that the times of challenging lands and threatening territorial invasions against Greece and European territories, has gone irretrievably.

On the matter of FYROM, he reiterated the need for changes in the country’s constitution, underlining that any name chosen should not contain irredentist traces, either in terms of borders or ethnicity and language. “When our neighbours agree that they are adapting to International Law, to the European Acquis and, of course, to History, then we are here for them”, said the President of Greece.

On his part, the Irish President supported the positions of his Greek counterpart regarding the end of the austerity policies, adding that mistakes had been committed against the Greeks. Mr Higgins condemned economics models that had not been tested in real life social conditions, stressing that “we need to link reality to the EU with the social vision”.