Photo: EuroDefense Group with His Majesty The King of Spain

The President of the Greek Association for Atlantic and European Cooperation, Mr. Theodossis Georgiou, participated at the Council of Presidents of the EuroDefense Network held between 10 and 12 April in Madrid, Spain, as President of Eurodefense Greece.

EuroDefense is a network of national Associations, established in 1994, dedicated to promote European Security and Defence Identity and contribute to the development of European Common Foreign Policy, by concrete initiatives.

The Council of Presidents is a bi-annual meeting, to discuss the future of national Associations, define a common approach, working policies and Action plans and prepare the following Annual Plenary Meetings. It is also an opportunity to promote the awareness of the Associations’ activities.

The 2008 Plenary Meeting will take place in Luxembourg, the last days of September.

All the Eurodefense Associations were present in this Council, namely, ED-Greece, ED-Austria, ED-France, ED-Spain, ED-Italy, ED-United Kingdom, ED-Germany, ED-Portugal, ED-Belgium, ED-Luxembourg, ED-Netherlands, ED-Hungary and ED-Romania.

The two main events of this meeting were a meeting with Mr. Javier Solana, High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union, and an audience to His Majesty The King of Spain, Don Juan Carlos I, at the Zarzuela Palace.

It was the first time Mr. Solana took part in a EuroDefense meeting. The main points of his speech, were the Lisbon Convention, an introduction to a common Mediterranean Policy for Security, the challenges for Europe following the NATO Summit of Bucharest, and the European Union – NATO relations. He urged the EuroDefense Associations to engage in even greater initiatives of informing the public opinion on Defense and Security issues, and develop into the “think tank” of his cabinet.

The participants had the honor of a private audience with His Majesty The King of Spain for over one and half hour. In this audience, the President of EuroDefense - Spain, as the host country, delivered a speech addressing the creation and history, the present activities and present importance of the network in promoting Security issues in Europe.

In his response, His Majesty focused on three main topics: the importance of the “European Mediterranean Policy” as proposed by the President of France, Mr. Nicolas Sarkozy, without underestimating the Barcelona Process; the need of taking into account Russia as a crucial player for all European issues; and the importance of unifying efforts within the Defense Industry of Europe.

His Majesty also had individual conversations with the representatives of each Association.

Photo: EuroDefense group with Mr. Javier Solana

EuroDefense Greece had the presidency of the EuroDefense Network in the recent past, having organized the 12^th Plenary Assembly in Athens in 2006.

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