Kyriakos Mitsotakis: Turkey actively encourages and promotes immigrants to Greece
Its instrumentalization immigrant from Turkeypointed out the prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakisin an interview with the Lithuanian TV channel LRT.
He stressed that Ankara “actively encourages and promotes immigrants and refugees in Greece” and called on it to cooperate with Greece and Europe to address this problem.
“It is very sad when we see people in very small inflatable boats in the sea. The Hellenic Coast Guard is always ready to rescue them and has saved thousands of people at sea. But these people are departing from Turkish shores and I am sure that Turkey can do much more to prevent traffickers from profiting from this human suffering,” the prime minister stressed.
Energy crisis: We need a European solution as soon as possible
Regarding the issue of the energy crisis, Mr. Mitsotakis emphasized that “we need a European solution as soon as possible”.
“I am glad that at the last European Council there was agreement among my colleagues that we should ask our ministers to come up with a European solution that would also include a cap on the TTF index for the wholesale gas market in order to avoid excessive price increases. of natural gas”, the Prime Minister emphasized and noted: “This will be a radical solution that will help all European countries to reduce the cost of energy. In the meantime, like most European countries, and Lithuania, we have supported businesses and households, taxed the surpluses of producers and used this revenue to support the citizens of our country. And of course, we also contribute from the national budget to keep energy prices at reasonable levels.
But I want to be very clear: until we manage to find a European solution, it will remain very difficult for Member States to continue to support their citizens, households and businesses through national budgets. Therefore, we need a European solution as soon as possible.”
Mr. Mitsotakis also mentioned that Greece, like many other European countries, depends to a large extent on natural gas, in our case, for the production of electricity. “And we are all facing great difficulties because of Putin’s instrumentalization of natural gas. And he argues that we have to deal with the generation of inflation, which is the very high prices of natural gas, with an intervention at the level,” he pointed out.
Greek-Lithuanian relations can be improved
The Prime Minister also mentioned that the relations between Greece and Lithuania can be significantly improved and that the two countries cooperate very closely in the European Council.
“Lithuania has been a very ardent supporter of the Greek initiative for a European intervention to control natural gas prices,” Mr. Mitsotakis emphasized, noting that the two countries also cooperate in immigration, while there is an identification of positions on important foreign policy issues, important dynamics for the improvement of economic relations, trade, but also investments from both sides.
“Greece emerges much stronger from a very prolonged economic crisis. Our economy is regulated with higher than the eurozone average. The foreign direct investment we are attracting to the country is at a record level. Therefore, it is also important for your audience, for Lithuanians, for Lithuanian companies interested in investing in Greece, to understand that the Greece of 2022 has nothing to do with the Greece of the financial crisis of the second decade of the 21st century. Make significant progress and I think we can further add to the economic ties between our two countries, to the benefit of both our peoples,” the Prime Minister continued.
Putin’s attack on Ukraine was unprovoked
Asked about the war in Ukraine and what could stop Vladimir Putin, Kyriakos Mitsotakis said that Greece and Lithuania, as well as the rest of the European family, are united in condemning this war of aggression, “the absolutely unnecessary, unprovoked attack launched . Putin in Ukraine”.
He noted that in general, the European response was very well coordinated and quite dynamic.
“As you know, we have implemented eight sets of sanctions against Russia, and I am convinced that these sanctions are starting to have a significant impact on the Russian economy. At the same time, we continue to support the Ukrainian government, not only financially, but also through military support. This is what Greece chose to do from the first moment the war began, and we will continue to do so until Ukraine can be strengthened so that it is not in a position of weakness. In this light, no one should question the commitment of European countries to stand by Ukraine, supporting it against Russia,” he added.
Referring to what happened in Mariupol, he said that we were surprised by the fact that the city was on the front line of this war from the beginning. “Not many people know, but – as you pointed out – we have in Ukraine a strong community of Greek origin residing in the area around Mariupol. Unfortunately we don’t have enough good information to be able to know exactly what happened in the community. We know that people have their own lives and for this reason Greece has committed that when the time comes and hopefully when this war ends, we want to play an active role in the reconstruction of Mariupol. we have this city in our hearts. “Unfortunately, it was destroyed by the heinous attack launched by Putin against Ukraine,” he added.