The European Council in Brussels has concluded its work and at this moment Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis made statements to the press.

“We managed to reach an agreement on the conclusions on the migration issue and this is a very positive development”, said Kyriakos Mitsotakis, stressing that “we were the first to confront the instrumentalization of migration in March 2020. Since then the EU has changed and has come very close to the national positions. What we need to do now is to establish a framework for returns and this is the mandate we gave to the Commission”.

The main subject of the discussions between the Heads of State and Government was migration.

At the European Council meeting, Prime Minister Mitsotakis reportedly noted that it is positive that the EU is converging on the position of strict border security.

Greece has always supported the need for strict border security and has done so and it is positive that the EU is now converging on this position.

He also stressed the importance of cooperation with third countries – he cited the example of Turkey and underlined that the next challenge to which the EU must respond is the obligation to accept the return of those who are not entitled to asylum.