The Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis began his press conference by reviewing the proceedings of the EU Summit. Specifically for Brexit, Mr Mitsotakis expressed the hope that the agreement would be accepted by the British Parliament.
The second issue discussed was the main financial instrument of the European budget. As the Prime Minister noted, the EU has an ambitious agenda for migration, security and climate change.
Among other things, the Prime Minister said:
– We succeeded in integrating the Greek positions into the three issues of Turkey – Cyprus – Syria.
– Any reduction in the EU budget will lead to reductions in its ambitious policies, as the majority of Member States stressed at the summit, the Prime Minister said.
– The unanimous condemnation of Turkish intervention in Syria was decided by the summit and Mr Mitsotakis called for an immediate ceasefire taking into account the agreement with the US.
– He noted that following the Greek side’s insistence, the text of the conclusions adopted the position that the EU should support Greece in managing the migration flows.
– Europeans unanimously condemned Turkey’s illegal activity in the Cypriot EEZ and adopted Foreign Ministers’ decisions on sanctions, Mr Mitsotakis said.
On developments in Skopje after the French veto
Asked about the enlargement issue and whether the Prespa Agreement is in jeopardy, Mr Mitsotakis said he had not contacted Mr Zaev, but what he had said in New York, that it is a problematic deal, is still valid, but he did not see it as a problem for the enlargement.
For the illegal immigrantion issue
Responding to Proto Thema‘s question on immigration and in particular whether the government was unprepared, both for speeding up asylum and for overall policy in relation to the previous government, he said he did not use the former government as an alibi.
“We have moved on to a specific plan, quickly, the new asylum procedure is under construction so that those who are not eligible to be returned to Turkey quickly. We have made more decisions to help the islands. We took care of the most vulnerable groups, such as unaccompanied minors, but did not find anything ready. I understand that this issue causes a lot of reactions. Society understands that the problem is bigger than Greece and that this government has a different way of dealing with it”.
