Brussels, 16/12/2002 (Agence Europe) - Two days ahead of the official presentation of the programme of the upcoming Greek Presidency (on 18 December), Greece's Permanent Representative to the EU, Aristide Agathocles, gave some indications of the future Presidency's priorities at a dinner attended by a number of diplomats from third countries.
The Greek Presidency's programme will be based on four chapters: 1) Driving the EU forward: this involves pursuing the enlargement process, preparing the Accession Treaty that is expected to contain around a thousand pages, for signature in Athens on 16 April, explained Agathocles, also mentioning deepening of the process for the three remaining candidate countries: Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey. "We expect tangible results" in terms of the Zagreb process in the run-up to the Thessalonika European Council, he added when discussing the Balkans. He also mentioned in this connection the process of reforming the EU and the work of the European Convention. 2) Economic and social cohesion and sustainable development. The future Presidency wants to strengthen economic coordination, said Agathocles, referring to the BEPG (Broad Economic Policy Guidelines) and the Stability Pact. "We expect the Commission to come up with some good ideas", he added, before mentioning several other priorities; revising the Employment Strategy; the European patent; trans-European networks; modernising the European social model; implementing the Johannesburg action plan; and the energy tax directive. 3) Developing the area of freedom, security and justice with particular mention of immigration, asylum, police cooperation and approximating legislation in the civil domain. 4) Common foreign and security policy, on which the Greek Representative was relatively discreet, simply mentioning the development of a Mediterranean dimension of the EU's policy and negotiations at the WTO.
In response to questions, Agathocles said the Greek Presidency would do its best to continually promote a common position over Iraq, and he mentioned the need to convince the Commission and the Council of the need to extend the EU's relations with the Caucasus.