Dimitrios Chronopoulos is the new ambassador of Greece to Bulgaria. He arrived in Sofia only recently but he has already been up on Mount Vitosha because he and his wife are fond of hiking and of discovering the capital of Bulgaria by going to its markets and the places that bring people together. The ambassador plans to go and see Plovdiv, Veliko Turnovo and the Black Sea coastline.

On the occasion of 28 October, the second most important national day for Greece, Dimitrios Chronopoulos welcomed us at the Greek embassy with the words that he is enjoying his stay in the country. Our conversation started with his first impressions of Bulgaria, to go on to current issues in bilateral relations.

“Relations between Bulgaria and Greece are now in the stage of maturity,” says Dimitrios Chronopoulos. “The two countries belong to the same interest group. I have been instructed by the Greek government to develop our policy with the other Balkan countries on the basis of our cooperation with Sofia. I would like to say that Athens considers Sofia a strategic partner and wants to see the direct development of relations in all directions. Just as our two countries have managed to iron out their relations, so should all countries of the Balkans– and Athens and Sofia should play a leading role in this process. Just as our two countries have attained full membership of the Euro-Atlantic institutions, so must we help, to the best of our abilities, our neighbours attain this same goal. It is in our own interest that this takes place because it is the way to ensure the stability of our region.”

Do the two countries have joint plans for tackling latter-day challenges?

“Bulgaria and Greece are equally aware of the challenges of the present day and have the same understanding of the notion of “security” in the 21^st century,” commented the Greek ambassador. “For example, Bulgaria and Greece are not the cause of the refugee problem but they have to cope with its consequences. Our countries are frontal countries, at the entrance of the waves of refugees. The 7 October decision of the two countries to present, together with Cyprus, to the Justice and Home Affairs Council in Luxembourg, the need for Europe to focus on this problem, a problem which is not a European, but a world problem so it should be resolved not only at a Brussels level by all member countries, but at a world level as well by the United Nations, was indicative of the fact that the two countries regard it as a problem we have in common.

Another “hot topic” is the energy sphere.

“In the sphere of energy Bulgaria and Greece are developing two programmes of strategic importance,” ambassador Chronopoulos says. “One is the Gas Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria /IGB/, the agreement for which was signed on 10 October, and the other is Bulgaria’s intention of investing in the construction of a floating station for gas liquefaction in the waters off Alexandroupoli. These two programmes will diversify the sources providing Europe with energy.”

Greeks are hoping the financial position of Bulgarians will continue to improve so that they can invest even more on Bulgarian territory, the Greek ambassador says.

“As to the business sphere, Greeks invest around 4 billion euro in Bulgaria (taking into account the Greek capital entering Bulgaria from other countries – editorial note) and provide around 65,000 jobs, or around 5 percent of Bulgaria’s GDP. We are hoping to see Bulgarian investments in Greece go up as well.”

In recent years the cultural exchange between the two countries has increased substantially. The embassy’s plans for the future include the commemoration of the 140^th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Bulgaria and Greece in 2020.

Today is 28 October – a national day in Greece dedicated to one word. Greeks celebrate the word “No” because to them it is a reaction to any outside intrusion into their own space, to any attempt at depriving them of their freedom. Mr. Chronopoulos says this is the kind of attitude all nations should adopt if they want to uphold their identity.