El Alamein, the Élysée, Kastellorizo, Brussels and, in a few weeks, Saudi Arabia. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s schedule reads like a dense map of Greek diplomacy: relationships and alliances built over recent years are emerging now, almost one after another, within the same frame, showing their depth in practice.

From El Alamein to the Élysée

The next stop comes straight after, in Paris. The prime minister will meet French President Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace, against a backdrop that has already added French weight to one of the region’s most significant energy projects. Meridiam has acquired a majority stake in the Great Sea Interconnector, while Nexans plays a pivotal role on the technical side.

Behind the cable now lies not only French expertise and political backing, but also a direct French investment interest. The next step is seabed surveys, though no specific date has yet been announced for laying the cable.

The Turkish ‘picture’

Paris follows on from what came before at the trilateral summit between Greece, Egypt and Cyprus. The joint declaration does not mention the word ‘Turkey’, but the subtext is clear on five points: the Law of the Sea in maritime zones, refraining from the threat or use of force, a Cyprus settlement based on UN resolutions, the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Libya, and an energy corridor linking Egypt, Cyprus, Greece and Europe.

Here too, the facts carry their own weight: Turkey has not signed the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), maintains its casus belli policy, insists on a two-state solution in Cyprus and has a military presence in Libya. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi described the trilateral summit as a ‘model’ of regional cooperation, Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulidis focused on the energy outlook, and Mitsotakis set out his own position in a single phrase: stability does not mean ‘backing down or tolerating a fait accompli’.

Kastellorizo, then on to the Gulf

After Paris, the scene changes completely. According to reports, the prime minister will be in Kastellorizo from Friday to Sunday, with the 13 September festivities marking the high point of the visit.

The timing alone carries symbolism. A few days earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had chosen to reference the distance between Kaş and Greece, saying: ‘If we raise our voice from our own side, say from Kaş towards Greece, they will hear us, won’t they?’ On Sunday, the Greek prime minister will be standing on the other side.

The European Council follows on 15 and 16 October, with the second EU-Gulf Cooperation Council summit taking place in Saudi Arabia on 24 October. That date looks like a likely window for Mitsotakis’s next contacts with Gulf powers too, with the recent Saudi-Turkish ‘Mecca Agreement’ now forming the backdrop to the region’s shifting balances.

Speaking at the Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF), when asked about the Saudi-Turkish rapprochement, Mitsotakis was clear: the agreement ‘does not change Athens’s core priority’ of maintaining strong relations with all Gulf states, and he announced a visit to Saudi Arabia ‘very soon’. Asked whether Athens might distance itself given Riyadh’s closer ties with Ankara, he said: ‘Foreign policy is far more complex than that.’

Mecca was also discussed at El Alamein. According to reports, the message from the Egyptian side was that the new regional balances change neither the stability nor the particular weight of the trilateral relationship with Greece and Cyprus.