President of the Hellenic Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos on Friday received visiting French President Francois Hollande, in Athens for the EU Mediterranean Countries Summit. They reaffirmed the good ties between Greece and France and discussed the challenges currently facing Europe in terms of the economy and social cohesion, as well as in the areas of security and the refugee crisis.
Hollande said that Greek authorities the Tsipras government had made major efforts to find a solution and said that France, if all the commitments are met, will always stand at Greece’s side for the payment of loan tranches so that the country can return to growth.
Pavlopoulos hailed Hollande as a great friend of Greece, adding that the two countries share concern about the future, completion and unification of Europe.
The Greek president noted a need for greater solidarity between the EU member-states, though noting that this should not be underestimated or overlooked, since it was a principle built into the EU treaties.
The French president pointed out that this was his second visit to Greece in a few months and said it would be inconceivable to France for Greece to be excluded from the Eurozone, stressing that Europe needs Greece and Greece needs Europe.
Hollande also referred to the issue of protecting Europe from extremists and the need to guard its borders, noting the effort made by the Greek side to deal with the refugee issue.
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