EU Foreign Minister Contact Information (as of Dec 2007)
Please write to EU foreign ministers, urging them to protect the human rights of the monks of Esphigmenou monastery who are all EU citizens. We have attached the contact information of the ministers of the EU member states, together with a suggested text of the letter. Please keep your letters polite, friendly, and persuasive. Thank you.
Austria
Dr. Michael Spindelegger
Foreign Minister
Minoritenplatz 8
A-1014 Wien
Tel: +43 50 11 50-0
Fax: +43 50 11 59-0
Send an e-mail through their website:
http://www.aussenministerium.at/view.php3?f_id=1438&LNG=en&version=
Belgium
Minister of Foreign Affairs- Steven Vanackere
Karmelietenstraat 15
B-1000 Brussels
Tel: +32 (0)2.501.85.91
Fax: +32 (0)2.511.63.85
Site: http://diplomatie.belgium.be/en/contact/
Cyprus
Foreign Minister- Mr. Markos Kyprianou
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Presidential Palace Avenue
1447, Nicosia Cyprus
Tel: +357 22 401200
Fax: +357 22 661881
Czech
Minister of Foreign Affairs Karel Schwarzenberg
Ministerstvo zahranicních vecí
Loretánské námestí 5
118 00 Praha 1, The Czech Republic
tel: +420-224 181 111
e-mail: info@mzv.cz
Denmark
Foreign Minister: Lene Espersen
Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Asiatisk Plads 2
DK-1448 Copenhagen K.
Denmark
Tel. +45 33 92 00 00
Fax +45 32 54 05 33
e-mail: um@um.dk
Estonia
Foreign Minister: Urmas Paet
Tel: +372 6 377 092
Fax: +372 6 377 099
VälisministeeriumIslandi väljak 1,
15049
Finland
Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Alexander Stubb
Ministry of Foreign Affiars
PO Box 176
00161 Helsinki, Finland
Phone: +358-9-160 05 or 578 15
Fax: 358-9-1605 5002
France
Minister of Foreign and European Affairs- Mrs Michčle Alliot-Marie
37, quai d’Orsay
75351 Paris Cedex 07
Tel: 01 43 17 53 53
Send an e-mail through their website http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/courrier/default.asp?lang=gb
Germany
Minister of Foreign Affairs Frank-Guido Westerwelle
The Federal Foreign Office
11013 Berlin
Tel: +49-30-5000-0
Fax: +49-30-5000-3402
http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/EN/Service/Contact/contact_node.html
Hungary
Minister of Foreign Affairs--Janos Martonyi
Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Hungary
1027 Budapest, Bem rakpart 47
Other contact email: iroda.konz@kum.hu
+36-441-2112 or 0036- 1458-1000
e-mail at: https://secure.meh.hu/english/lettertoprimeminister.html
Ireland
PM - Brian Cowen is also temporarily Foreign Affairs Minister
DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
80 St. Stephen's Green,
Dublin 2
Tel: + 353 1 408 2000
Fax: + 353 1 408 2400
http://www.dfa.ie/home/index.aspx?id=73691
Italy
Foreign Minister-- Franco Frattini
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Piazzale della Farnesina, 1
00194 Roma
Tel: +39 06.36911
Fax: +39 06.3236210
Email: gabinetto@cert.esteri.i
Latvia
Minister of Foreign Affairs--Girts Valdis Kristovskis
K.Valdemara street 3
Riga LV -1395, Latvia
Phone: (+371) 7-016-210
Fax: (+371) 7 828 121
site: http://www.mfa.gov.lv/en/ministry/
Post an e-mail through their website
http://www.am.gov.lv/en/contact/ or directly
Lithuania
Minister of Foreign Affairs-- Audronius Ažubalis
Foreign Minister’s e-mail: Petras.Vaitiekunas@urm.lt
J. Tumo-Vaižganto str. 2, LT-01511
Vilnius, Lithuania
tel. +370 5 2362444,
fax +370 5 2313090,
site: http://www.urm.lt/index.php?-1673599911
Email: urm@urm.lt
Luxembourg
Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration--Jean Asselborn
5, rue Notre-Dame
L-2240 Luxembourg
Tél: +352 2478 23 00 or Tél: +352- 2478-2478
Fax: +352 22 31 44
Email: info@sip.etat.lu
Malta
Minister of Foreign Affairs--Michael Frendo
Ministry for Foreign Affairs
Palazzo Parisio
Merchant Street
Valletta
Malta VLT 1171
Tel: +356-2124 2191
Fax: +356-2124 2853 or +356-2123 6604
site: http://www.foreign.gov.mt/
Email: info.mfa@gov.mt
The
Foreign Minister--Uriël (Uri) Rosenthal
PO Box 20061,
2500 EB The Hague,
The Netherlands
Tel: +31 70 3486486
Fax: + 31 70 3484848
site: http://www.minbuza.nl/en
Post a message via their website:
http://www.minbuza.nl/en/The_Ministry/Contact_the_Ministry/Contact_us/General_questions_and_comments
Poland
Minister of Foreign Affairs--
Minister Radoslaw Sikorski
tel. +48-22-523-9356
fax +48-22-523-9099
site: http://www.mfa.gov.pl/
Portugal
Minister of State and for Foreign Affairs: Luís Filipe Marques Amado
Address: Palácio das Necessidades,
Largo do Rilvas
1399-030 Lisboa
Tel: +351-213 946 000
Fax: +351-213 946 070
site: http://www.mne.gov.pt
Email: Minister@mne.gov.pt
Also contact the Prime Minister:
Prime Minister: José Sócrates Carvalho Pinto de Sousa
Address: Rua da Imprensa Estrela, 4 - 1200-888 Lisboa
Phone: +351-213 923 500
Fax: +351-213 951 616
Website: http://www.portugal.gov.pt
Slovak
Minister of Foreign Affairs: Mikuláš DZURINDA
Hlboká cesta 2, 833 36
Bratislava 37
Phone: local cals from Bratislava 5978 3001
Phone: +421-2 5978 3001
Fax: +421-2 5978 3009
site: http://www.foreign.gov.sk/en/ministry/minister-curriculum_vitae
Email: kami@mzv.sk
Slovenia
Foreign Affairs--Samuel Žbogar
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia
Prešernova cesta 25
SI-1001 Ljubljana
P.P. 481
Slovenia
Phone: +386 1 478 22 31
Fax: +386 1 478 21 70
site: http://www.mzz.gov.si/en/about_the_ministry/leadership/
Spain
Minister of Foreign Affairs--Trinidad Jimenez Garcia-Herrera
Edificio Torres Ágora. C/ Serrano Galvache, 26- 28033 Madrid
32 2 285 87 52
Telephone (switchboard): 91 379 97 00 / 91 379 83 00
2375 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington ,
(tel. 202-728-2340)
site: http://www.maec.es/en/Home/Paginas/HomeEn.aspx
Sweden
Minister of Foreign Affairs-- Carl Bildt
Phone: +46 8405-1000
Fax: 46 8 723 11 76
site: http://www.sweden.gov.se/sb/d/2059
Email: email to Carl Bildt, via the senior registry clerk
United Kingdom
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs--
The Rt. Hon. William Hague MP
Foreign & Commonwealth Office,
King Charles Street,
London.
SW1A 2AH
44 208 760 3127 or switchboard 44-020 7008 1500
Post a message to him on his website:
http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/ministerial-feedback-form
Here is one example of a letter. Please feel free to add, subtract, or write your own entirely.
Dear Foreign Minister _______,
I would like to bring to your attention the extremely serious violations of human rights of EU citizens taking place today which requires your immediate attention. A desperate situation has arisen on Mount Athos, Greece and assistance or intervention on your behalf is of paramount importance. The lives of over 100 peaceful monks in the monastery of Esphigmenou are at stake, because they are under siege by the Greek government.
The Greek police and port authority are imposing a land and sea blockade on the defenseless monks of Esphigmenou Monastery. Not even food, water, medicine or heating oil are being allowed in. Telephone lines to the monastery have been cut to prevent the outside world from learning what is occurring, and electricity has been cut as well.
So far 5 monks have died during the blockade, and the Greek Police have denied entry to doctors seeking to provide urgently needed medical care to sick monks.
You may ask how can this occur today, in an EU member state, to fellow EU citizens? Here is the situation in brief.
The Greek government is attempting to force the monks, to leave their monastery home of 1500 years. The government is enforcing this inhumane blockade even though it knows there are many elderly monks in the monastery who need medicine and who have great difficulty enduring the cold winter nights of Northern Greece without heating oil.
Why is this happening? The monks "crime" is they have a theological disagreement with Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople (Istanbul). The Greek government, as you may know, has no separation of church and state, and when the Patriarch wants to discipline anyone in the Orthodox Church, he just declares them "schismatic" and calls in the government to use the Greek police to enforce his beliefs by force. The use of force by government to enforce religious beliefs is unacceptable behavior from a European Union member.
Due to the fact that Mount Athos is a semi-autonomous religious enclave, the power of the state is vested in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, headed by Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyiannis. She authorizes the use of Greek Police to blockade food, water, medicine and heating oil to the monks.
I urge you to please raise this issue at the highest levels of the Greek Government, and ask Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyianni to lift the inhumane embargo against Esphigmenou Monastery, and allow the Red Cross or some other neutral international organization to visit the monastery and assess the condition of the monks, and provide medical care. This is not the kind of behavior the European Union should tolerate or accept from a fellow member state.
Greece is a signatory to the European Convention of Human Rights, and its actions violate numerous provisions of this convention. Greece's violations have also been cited by the US State Department's Report on International Religious Freedom.
The peaceful monks of Esphigmenou Monastery have been there for 1500 years, and all they want is to be left alone, to pray in peace. They don't want anything from the government, just their rights as Greek and EU citizens to pray in peace in their monastic home, Esphigmenou monastery, and to have access to food, medicine, water and heating oil. Having forsaken all their worldly possessions, the monastery is the only home these monks have.
The plight of these monks has received media coverage by the BBC as well as US and European news outlets. (Please see www.Esphigmenou.com for more information and media coverage)
Please help these peaceful monks, and please help ensure that religious freedom continues to thrive in Greece and the EU, without infringement by the state. Thank you very much for your assistance
Sincerely,