Europe must look for ways to support citizens and businesses in the face of higher energy prices, while maintaining fiscal stability and sustainability, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis stressed from Split, Croatia, during the MED9 summit.

Addressing the MED9 plenary session, Mitsotakis reiterated that Europe has to rise to the current moment and find ways to shield households and companies from higher energy prices, which are adding to inflationary pressures, all within the bounds of fiscal stability and sustainability.

He also underlined that this is tied to safeguarding the EU’s competitiveness, adding that recent developments show the importance of European initiatives to secure refining capacity within the bloc.

The prime minister also addressed negotiations on the next Multiannual Financial Framework, noting that the EU’s new budget must be commensurate with, and match, its ambitions.

On migration, Mitsotakis welcomed the European Commission’s positive stance on Greece’s proposal for a European emergency mechanism to deal with increased flows, the instrumentalisation of migration and the emergence of hybrid threats.