Priorities for Greece as EU President

Apart from the above priority areas, Greece will introduce a horizontal thematic that will run across all three priority areas, namely EU Sea policies. Our objective will be to redefine and relaunch the EU Maritime Policy in all its aspects, not being confined to issues of growth and development. With the emphasis on the interests and responsibilities of both the EU and member states, we will seek to address challenges in the global maritime domain, and promote general principles, such as maritime multilateralism and a rule-based approach to maritime security. Emphasis also will be placed on the sustainable exploitation of marine resources, safeguarding marine ecosystems, improving the management of integrated coastal regions, and maritime tourism.

We should add that the priorities of the previous Greek Presidency of 2003, the Thessaloniki Agenda for the European perspective on the Western Balkans, is already integrated within European policies.

In a happy and challenging coincidence, the Greek EU Presidency follows two very important events: the EU-China Summit and the Third Plenum of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, both of which were held in November. We consider the EU-China 2020 Strategic Agenda for Cooperation adopted at the recent EU-China Summit, as fundamental for providing the guidelines for strengthening the Sino-European Strategic Partnership in all areas, including peace and security, prosperity, trade and investment, sustainable development, social progress, and people to people exchanges.

We appreciate China's stance on supporting Europe's integration process and the repeated calls by Chinese leaders that a united, stable and prosperous Europe is in the interests of China and the world. Greece also appreciates the Chinese support offered during the darkest moments of the financial and economic crisis.

The Third Plenum proved the will of the new Chinese leadership to implement extensive reforms toward a more effective and sustainable model of the economy and governance. These extensive reforms present a new opportunity to enhance EU-China relations.

Throughout its EU Presidency, Greece will continue to firmly support the enhancement of the EU-China strategic relations in a balanced and comprehensive way.

The author is the ambassador of Greece to China.