Greek Prime Minister Kyriákos Mitsotákis said on Tuesday 5 July that the EU’s approach to tackling the Covid-19 pandemic and reviving the European economy should be used to address the energy crisis exacerbated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“It is very difficult for a country to face difficulties alone”, Mr Mitsotákis said in a speech in the European Parliament chamber in Strasbourg. He praised European successes in the fight against the pandemic, including the group purchase of Covid-19 vaccines and the creation of the European Covid certificate, originally “a Greek proposal”.
To combat soaring energy prices and Russian gas cuts, it is also necessary to act as Europeans, according to the Greek Prime Minister, who believes that no EU country should be isolated from an energy point of view. In particular, the leader emphasised his country’s strategic position as a gateway for LNG gas to “cover the needs of Greece, the Western Balkans and, tomorrow, Eastern Europe”. We are also trying to promote interconnections with Egypt for the supply of electricity produced by solar energy, said Mr Mitsotákis.
The Prime Minister also called for a reform of the electricity markets. We must “have the courage to intervene in the markets when they no longer work”, he insisted, satisfied that the Commission was willing to look into the matter.
Migration. The Greek Christian Democrat has been repeatedly questioned about the attitude of the Greek Coast Guard in the Aegean Sea, accused of ‘pushbacks’ of illegal migrants from Turkey (see EUROPE 12980/7).
He did not deny the existence of “disturbing allegations” which need to be independently investigated. Yet he argued that Greece, while playing its role as defender of the EU’s external borders in the face of the “invasion threat” of tens of thousands of migrants, had rescued “6,000 shipwrecked people” in the Aegean Sea, all from Turkey. He assured that the reception conditions for migrants had greatly improved compared to the tragedy of the Moria camp (see EUROPE 12615/7).
Instead of talking about ‘pushbacks’, we should talk about ‘pushforwards’, the Greek Prime Minister said in English, accusing Turkey of using illegal migration as a weapon of destabilisation, even before Belarus did the same at the end of 2021 vis-à-vis Poland and the Baltic States. He called on the Member States to be cautious about selling arms to Ankara in the face of Turkey’s aggressiveness. Echoing the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, he advocated respect for international law against the policy of fait accompli in territorial occupation, referring to the case of Cyprus.
Five years ago to the day, a referendum promoted by the previous radical left-wing government very nearly ousted Greece from the euro (see EUROPE 11351/1), before it reversed course and resolved to a third “unnecessary” austerity package, Mr Mitsotákis said.
Today, a chapter turns with the termination, at the end of August, of Greece’s close budgetary surveillance by its institutional creditors (see EUROPE 12973/3). The Greek leader praised his country’s economic successes: growth was the third highest in the EU in 2021, the minimum income was increased, Athens paid back its IMF loans two years earlier than expected, the banking sector was restructured and non-performing loans were sharply reduced.
For these reasons, Greece wishes to return the solidarity it has received, concluded Mr Mitsotákis. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)