George A. Papandreou : Good morning. I had the opportunity today to meet with my old friend Mr. Max van der Stoel, whose active efforts to restore democracy during Greece’s 1967-74 military dictatorship, through the Council of Europe, are well known.
The Council Of Europe continues to battle for democracy and human rights throughout the European continent.
Today, we discussed issues that concern Mr. van der Stoel both in his new capacity as the OSCE’s Special Representative on Minority Issues, and as Chairman of the Working Table on Democracy and Human Rights of the Stability Pact, which deals with issues of democratization and minorities in the Balkans.

I believe we see eye to eye on the need to protect minority rights and respect borders in the Balkans. We had an opportunity to exchange views and information on current Balkan issues. Naturally, I assured Mr. van der Stoel that Greece has every reason to participate in efforts to create stability and, in particular, to actively encourage democratization in the Balkans.

I wish to thank Mr. van der Stoel for his interest in issues that are of major concern to Greece. I also had the opportunity to discuss the Greek minorities in Turkey and Albania, and to inform him of all our efforts to support the Muslim minority in Thrace. Naturally, we also discussed wider Balkan perspectives regarding minorities, stability in Kosovo, and so on.

After this brief resume of our discussion, I give the floor to Mr. van der Stoel to say a few words and maybe there might be a question or two.

Max van der Stoel : Thank you so much. Good morning. I think I might repeat what the Minister has already said to you that I just expressed my pleasure to meet Mr. Minister again.  We did so on several previous occasions and we always came to the conclusion that our views are virtually identical and thus I think this was also the case this morning.

We discussed a number of minority issues in South East Europe. Also, we touched on the debate going on minorities in Greece. We spoke, of course, about the situation in Kosovo and its impact on the region. And, we also had, in my view, a very useful exchange of views regarding the task of the Stability Pact.

I understand that the Minister already made a number of remarks about this. I just wanted to make two comments in my quality as Chairman of the Working Table on Democracy and Human Rights, which will have its first meeting on October the 18th, in Geneva.

This is, in my view, very important that the Stability Pact plays a role in helping to coordinate various efforts in the region and to help these activities to be as fruitful as possible. It is not the task of the Stability Pact to create new organs and institutions other than already existing organs or institutions.

It is the task of the Stability Pact to see what we can do to help. In this respect, I was grateful for the offer of the Minister to find some talented Greek experts to help perform this task. I think this contribution from the region could be very important indeed. Thank you.

Journalist : Mr. Minister, could you please be more specific about what you discussed with Mr. Van der Stoel regarding the Greek minority in Turkey?

George A. Papandreou : I touched on the Theological School at Halki, the Patriarchate, Imvros and Tenedos, and the question of education in general. No, other questions. Very good. Thank you very much and have a nice day.

Max van der Stoel : Thank you.