By Keep Talking Greece
Greece Recalls Its Ambassador To Prague, After Czech President’s Unacceptable Remarks On Grexit
A diplomatic incident with unknown outcome has occurred between Greece and the Czech Republic after the provocative statements made against Greece by President Milos Zeman. As consequence to Zeman’s statements, the Greek Foreign Ministry ordered its its Ambassador to the Czech Republic to return back to Athens “for consultations” as it is nicely said in diplomatic language. The Czech President has recently expressed his disappointed “because Greece has not exit the Eurozone yet.”
Speaking to Slovak news agency TASR on December 15h, President Milos Zeman said that he was "extremely disappointed that the summer negotiations between Greece and creditors did not ultimately lead to Greece’s exit from the euro area, although it looked quite possible."
He added that “the Czech Republic will join the euro area on the first day after Greece departs the eurozone.“
Right after Zeman’s statements, the Czech Ambassador to Athens was invited by the office of Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias for a protest note and a “diplomatic chat” during which the Greek side expressed its discomfort about the unacceptable statements of the highest Czech official.
The Greek Foreign Ministry reminded the Czech Republic that it was also Greece that had approved its entrance to the European Union.
The Czech Republic was given four days time to refute its President’s statements but Prague decided to insist on the tough line against Athens.
The Greek diplomacy could not but proceed to the next step which was to “call its ambassador for consultations.” In practice this means, that Ambassador Panayiotis Sarris has been withdrawn from the Czech Republic and he will remain in Athens until the issue is solved.
“We have requested our ambassador to return to Athens for consultation. This is in relation to the unacceptable statements made by the Czech president,” Konstantinos Koutras, spokesman of the Greek Foreign Ministry told dpa, adding that the Czech Republic had become a member of the European Union in 2004 thanks to Greece‘s backing among others.”
For better understanding of the “ambassador’s withdrawal”, note the similar incident in May 2010, when Turkey withdrew its ambassador to Israel after the assault of Mavi Marmara vessel where several Turkish citizens lost their lives.