Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis spoke about defense, relations with Turkey and his upcoming meeting with Recep Tayyip Erdogan in an interview with Foreign Policy and its editor-in-chief Ravi Agrawal. Focusing on the progress made with Ankara and the easing of tensions, he emphasized that he will build on the improvement of relations for the tête-à-tête on February 11. He also addressed energy issues and imports of American liquefied natural gas, at a time when energy plays a significant geopolitical role, while focusing on the importance of reducing energy prices. He characterized cooperation with American President Donald Trump as very constructive, noting that Greece follows the path of win-win agreements, which strengthens relations with the US.
“NATO will become stronger if we take our defense more seriously,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis emphasized, continuing to speak about relations with Turkey: “I will be in Ankara next Wednesday. We have a format, we have our differences though, mainly the delimitation of territorial waters, that is the basic issue. We want to ease tensions, we can have a constructive relationship. I will try to build on the progress that has been made.”
“I don’t see serious risks of escalation with Ankara. We have enough problems in our region, we don’t need more. We have strengthened our own defense, we must have strong deterrence, but I don’t believe we will see destabilization with bilateral relations. It takes two to tango,” he added.
The Prime Minister referred among other things to the Europe-America relationship saying that “from our side in Europe we continue to work constructively with the US. It is in the interest of the US to have a strong economic and defense relationship with Europe. A win-win relationship.”
Kyriakos Mitsotakis on the Chios tragedy
Speaking about the tragedy in Chios with 15 dead migrants, the Prime Minister clarified that if it weren’t for the Coast Guard, then the deaths would have been more, while he referred to more evidence with the completion of the Coast Guard investigation.
Speaking about migration, Mr. Mitsotakis emphasized that Greece follows a tough but fair policy since, if someone enters the country illegally and is not entitled to asylum, they must return. As the Prime Minister said, at the same time we are generous with those who receive asylum, while noting that the country is open to legal migration. In this context, he even referred to interstate agreements for labor force.
“When I said these things in 2020 there were reactions, now the EU is in this direction,” Mr. Mitsotakis said.
The Prime Minister referred among other things to the Europe-America relationship saying that “from our side in Europe we continue to work constructively with the US. It is in the interest of the US to have a strong economic and defense relationship with Europe. A win-win relationship.”
On energy
The Prime Minister also referred to agreements with the US on energy, saying among other things: “Greece is a leading country in carbon emission reduction. There have been electricity exports, while in previous years we made imports. We have made a bet. We told the US to look at our infrastructure. We have millions of customers and we are becoming the architect of new European energy security. The Vertical Corridor will cover energy needs not only ours, but also neighboring countries. We want to strengthen our transatlantic relations. We want to see deposits with Chevron and Exxon soon.”
