Athens News Agency: News in English, 07-10-17

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Presidents Sarkozy and Papoulias meet in Paris

[01] Presidents Sarkozy and Papoulias meet in Paris

President Sarkozy received President Papoulias warmly at the Elysee Palace, while the presidential guard presented arms.

The meeting between the two leaders is not considered "official", but a "working meeting" on the occasion of the Greek President's visit to Paris, at the invitation of Unesco's General Director.

The two leaders' talks were to focus on the European Union's defence policy, the European Reform Treaty, the issue of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and international political issues.

The French Presidency, in an announcement, termed the meeting "an opportunity for the two presidents to refer to the excellent bilateral relations maintained by their countries, particularly in the defence sector, and indeed at a time when the French President's desire is for European defence to constitute a priority for the European Union."

The EU's Reform Treaty is also an issue to which the two presidents were due to refer to, given that President Sarkozy will be travelling to Lisbon on Thursday to participate in the European Council.

President Papoulias was due to refer to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and to the need for Greek positions on the finding of a final solution to this country's name issue to be supported.

Another issue of the talks was expected to be the "Mediterranean Union", which the French President has already been promoting since his election campaign.

According to the French Presidency's announcement, President Sarkozy "will express his desire to his Greek counterpart that the next year be decisive with regard to the beginning of the implementation of the Mediterranean Union, that constitutes one of the priorities of French foreign policy for him."

The experience of President Papoulias in international issues, according to the announcement, and the Middle East in particular, appears to be of particular interest to the French President. Iran, Kurdistan and Kosovo are also among issues on which the two leaders were due to be examining.

President Papoulias will be addressing on Thursday Unesco's General Conference, whose presidency was assumed on Tuesday by Greek Ambassador George Anastasopoulos.

President Papoulias will be the third Greek President to address the General Conference, following Constantine Tsatsos in 1979 and Constantine Karamanlis in 1982.

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