Greece’s President Prokopios Pavlopoulos on Friday underlined the need for a strong, united Europe – with institutional and political cohesion for the European structure as a whole – while speaking at the 4th Congress of Athens at the Onassis Cultural Centre.

Once the process of European unification is complete, Pavlopoulos supported, the European structure should have the form of a federal connection between the meber-states, based on the principles of solidarity, with a single governance based on respect of democracy.

In this direction, the EU should strengthen its institutional framework on decision-making, in terms of developing a single foreign policy and defence policy, as well as economic governance with the institutional recognition of the Eurogroup, the upgrading of the European Central bank powers of supervision and the creation of a European Monetary Fund.

The European Union was not formed to conquer, at any cost, the economic peak of the world. The global role of the European Union should evolve into a power that will defend peace and democracy, particularly representative democracy and fundamental human rights.

He underlined that the project of European unification should be combined with the creation and effective operation of lines of actions in the sectors of common foreign policy and political safety and secondly in economic and monetary policy.