Greece says No to EU statement on Russia

The new far-left government in Greece dropped a bombshell on its first day in office by abjuring an EU statement on Russia.

It said in a press release on Tuesday (27 January): “the aforementioned statement was released without the prescribed procedure to obtain consent by the member states and particularly without ensuring the consent of Greece”.

“In this context, it is underlined that Greece does not consent to this statement”.

It added that its new PM, Alexis Tsipras i, expressed “discontent” in a phone call to EU foreign relations chief Federica Mogherini i.

The EU statement on Russia, published on Tuesday morning, claimed all 28 leaders had agreed Russia bears “responsibility” for a rocket attack on the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, which killed 30 people.

It also called on foreign ministers later this week to “consider any appropriate action” - further sanctions on Russia.

It was drafted by the cabinet of EU Council chief Donald Tusk i, a Russia-critical Pole, on Monday evening.

His people say he phoned Tsipras while they contacted all the capitals' “sherpas” - senior officials dealing with EU issues in each leaders’ private office.

They also say no one on the Greek side voiced objections until Monday morning.

They then suggested adding a footnote to the statement, but “as Greece did not want such a footnote, it was clear to us that we could publish the statement as agreed in the evening”.

For its part, the Greek embassy to the EU is playing down the fiasco as some kind of confusion linked to the hand-over of power in Athens.

But one EU diplomat told this website Greece had tried to remove the line blaming Russia for the Mariupol killing.

He said Austria, Hungary, and Slovakia also tried, and failed, to “water down” the communique.

Meanwhile, an EU Council official said the situation - a retroactive abjuration of an EU line - has “never happened before”.

“I guess this means it’s now a statement of 27 EU heads of state or government instead of 28 and we will have to add the footnote”, he said.

“But it’s not a legally binding document anyway, so it doesn’t become invalid in that sense”.

Tsipras had earlier attracted comment for meeting with the Russian ambassador to Greece on Monday, just a few hours after being named PM.

The diplomat hand-delivered a telegram from Russian leader Vladimir Putin i, saying Putin “is confident that Russia and Greece will continue to develop their traditionally constructive co-operation in all areas”.

It is normal protocol, with China following suit on Tuesday.

But the EU bombshell and the Russian meeting come in the context of Tsipras’ pro-Russia track record.

He visited Moscow last May to meet with Russian MPs and Putin associates.

He voiced support, at the time, for Crimea’s “referendum” on independence. He said the EU “is shooting itself in the foot” by imposing sanctions and complained that the pro-EU government in Kiev contains “neo-Nazis”.

His MEPs have also voted against almost every Russia-critical act or resolution in the European Parliament.

The list includes EP ratification of the EU-Ukraine association pact, criticism of Russia’s crackdown on Memorial (an NGO), and criticism of the annexation of Crimea.