Athens, 13/07/2001 (Agence Europe) - On the occasion of a seminar on "Europe's and Greece's Future" organised by the Athens-based Hellenic Centre for European Studies, Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis affirmed that his government supports the evolution of the European Union in the direction of a political union with a federal structure, based on the Community method. Mr Simitis mainly insisted on: sufficient resources allowing real convergence and cohesion in an enlarged Union; the safeguarding and adjustment of the European social model; better macro-economic coordination within the EMU; attention to the daily concerns of citizens; and a more active role for the Union at international level in order to create a new world order based on the principles of international law.
By the same occasion, Minister for the Economy and Finance Yiannos Papantoniou urged for a Europe with a federal structure, and Foreign Minister George Papandreou affirmed: "Europe has a place for everyone, for Bosnians, Croats, Serbs, Turks and Turkish Cypriot; a continent where borders are respected but that do not divide peoples".