Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in opening remarks on Friday at an EU Mediterranean countries (EU-Med7) ministerial meeting held in Athens, emphasised issues of regional security in the Eastern Mediterranean, the progress of Greece’s vaccination campaign and the successful outcome of the initiative for an EU Digital Vaccination Certificate.
Ahead of a meeting that Mitsotakis is to have in private with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday after the NATO Summit in Brussels, the Greek premier said that Greece is always open to a positive agenda “but in a gradual, proportionate and reversible fashion.” He also stressed that this was conditional on “the current de-escalation continuing and on Turkey participating in the dialogue in a constructive way, respecting the terms set by the EU, always in accordance with international law, including the UN Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).”
Regarding the Cyprus issue, Mitsotakis again ruled out the possibility of any discussion of a two-state solution, “not only on the part of Cyprus or Greece as a guarantor country, but also by any member of the EU, as it violates the European acquis”.
Finally, referring to migration, Mitsotakis said that “we do not want to see a repetition of the situation where migrants and refugees, desperate people, are used as geopolitical instruments, as levers for exercising geopolitical power”.
