Athens, 1 February 2025. Participation in the Dinner of the Archbishop of Athens for the Greek MEPs and the Greek Delegation to the IAO

Athens, 1 February 2025. Participation in the Dinner of the Archbishop of Athens for the Greek MEPs and the Greek Delegation to the IAO

The Secretary General of the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (IAO), dr. Maximos Charakopoulos, participated in the official dinner hosted by the Archbishop Ieromynos of Athens and All Greece to the Greek Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and the members of the Greek Delegation to the IAO, on the occasion of the commencement of the 10th parliamentary period of the European Parliament.

In his greeting, the head of the interparliamentary institution thanked the leader of the Church of Greece for “the initiative of this meeting within the framework of the solidarity of Church and State. And this solidarity is no longer limited to nation-states, as we all belong to a supranational institution, namely the European Union, where key decisions are made that affect the lives of European citizens. After all, a large part of the legislative work in national parliaments is to incorporate European law.”

He added that “the EU is the most successful project in the world history of cooperation between states, peoples and nations. Of course, it is an imperfect union – much still needs to be done in the area of foreign policy and common defense. But, it is undoubtedly a space of democracy, respect for human rights, freedom of opinion, with a given social state and infrastructure, and that is why it is a pole of attraction for every persecuted person in this world. However, in recent years, a widening gap has been recorded between the European bureaucracy and the “desires” of European citizens and European societies. Because they feel that we are escaping the basic beliefs of the Fathers of Europe.”

Athens, 1 February 2025. Participation in the Dinner of the Archbishop of Athens for the Greek MEPs and the Greek Delegation to the IAO

Furthermore, the IAO Secretary General referred to the historical background and the recent activity of the IAO and underlined that “Europe is based on 3 pillars: Athens, Rome and Jerusalem. Ancient Greek literature, Roman law and Christian values, Christian traditions, Christian heritage. The latter certainly seems to be silenced, forgotten, neglected, devalued and this bothers a large part of European citizens. We as the IAO are taking initiatives to highlight this deficit that is currently being recorded in Europe.”

Athens, 1 February 2025. Participation in the Dinner of the Archbishop of Athens for the Greek MEPs and the Greek Delegation to the IAO

Concluding his greeting, he emphasized that “In the words of one of the brightest figures of Ecumenical Orthodoxy, Archbishop Anastasios of Albania – to whom we addressed a farewell two days ago: ‘Europe made a terrible mistake. It snubbed, undermined Christianity, created a vacuum of faith. And a Europe without faith, I don’t know if it will endure’. Let us hope, Your Beatitude, that Europe will pleasantly surprise us once again and find the right compass again.”

Athens, 1 February 2025. Participation in the Dinner of the Archbishop of Athens for the Greek MEPs and the Greek Delegation to the IAO

The following Greek MEPs participated in this dinner: Mr. Vangelis Meimarakis, Mr. Fredis Beleris, Ms. Eleonora Meleti, Mr. Emmanuil Kefalogiannis, Mr. Dimitrios Tsiodras, Mr. Yannis Maniatis, Mr. Nikolas Farantouris, Mr. Nikos Pappas, Ms. Elena Kountoura and Ms. Afroditi Latinopoulou. Moreover, the Deputy Vice-Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament, Mr. Athanasios Bouras, as well as the members of the Greek Parliamentary Delegation to the IAO, Mr. Theophilos Leontaridis, Apostolos Panas, Ioannis Sarakiotis and the IAO Advisor dr. Kostas Mygdalis participated in the dinner.

You can watch the video with the greeting of Maximos Harakopoulos’ at the following address: https://youtu.be/_i5-CrgpCmo

Athens, 1 February 2025. Participation in the Dinner of the Archbishop of Athens for the Greek MEPs and the Greek Delegation to the IAO

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