Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Venizelos’ statement at the EP Plenary in Strasbourg, on 16 April, for the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of WWI.

Dedicating today’s sitting of the Plenary to the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War I, the European Parliament is rightly choosing to end its proceedings with a message to the citizens of the European Union: that it has a historical conscience. An active historical memory is the only sound foundation for major political initiatives like the ones Europe so urgently needs.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos presented before the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee (AFET) in Strasbourg yesterday (14 April 2014) the developments in the process of drafting an EU Maritime Security Strategy.

Minister Venizelos said, inter alia: “Our aim is for the EU Maritime Security Strategy to broaden the so far one-dimensional perspective of maritime security, which is now somehow military and police oriented, by including the following:

Defence ministers will meet today (15 April 2014) from 9.30 (CET) onwards, first as the European Defence Agency Steering Board, chaired by the High Representative as Head of the Agency.

The Council will convene from 10.30 (CET) and hear presentations on the proposed EU Maritime Security Strategy and the launch of the EU military operation in the Central African Republic.