Before the start of the European Political Community summit in Budapest, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides, and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama had a brief informal discussion. The four leaders exchanged views on the outcome of the recent U.S. elections, as well as regional and international developments.

Mitsotakis: Trump’s victory is emphatic, Europe must wake up from its geopolitical naivety

Earlier, Mitsotakis congratulated Donald Trump on his decisive victory in the U.S. elections, noting that Europe needs to wake up from its geopolitical naivety and ensure additional resources to address competitiveness and European defense issues. He expressed hope that the transatlantic relationship would remain strong to resolve significant regional and global problems, but emphasized that Europe cannot approach this relationship from a position of weakness.

Mitsotakis also stated, “Europe cannot change the world, but certainly it can change itself to face a changing world,” and added that it is time to address Europe’s challenges with seriousness and urgency.

The leaders of the EU member states (the “27”) will discuss the U.S. election results, potential adverse scenarios like the imposition of U.S. tariffs on European goods, and other issues at tonight’s dinner and tomorrow’s European Council meeting.

The European Council informal summit on Friday, with Christine Lagarde and Mario Draghi in attendance, will focus on European competitiveness, based on Draghi’s report. European leaders are expected to agree on a common statement regarding priorities for improving EU competitiveness.

Mitsotakis is expected to underline the importance of joint European financing for common interests like energy and defense, and the connection between competitiveness discussions and the U.S. election outcome and Euro-Atlantic relations. He will also stress that Europe’s ambitions in defense should not come at the expense of other priorities, such as resources for cohesion. Furthermore, he will highlight the need for Europe to do more in terms of climate change adaptation, in light of recent deadly floods in Spain.

Regarding energy, Mitsotakis is expected to emphasize the need for reforms in energy markets and the promotion of electricity interconnections, which Draghi also mentioned in his report.