Mitsotakis: Greece will request references to the illegal Turkish-Libyan memorandum in the Summit conclusions

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, arriving at the EU Summit in Brussels on Thursday, made the following statement:

“The European Council will take place immediately after the NATO summit, which decided on a drastic increase in defence spending over a decade for all parts of the Alliance. Therefore, foreign policy issues will largely monopolise our interest. I will have the opportunity to refer to the permanent Greek positions regarding our wider region, the Middle East, the need to maintain the ceasefire that was achieved between Iran and Israel and to bring everything back to the negotiating table so that Iran’s nuclear programme is addressed not militarily but diplomatically. I will reiterate the Greek government’s established position that now is the time to bring back to the public debate the issue of a ceasefire, an immediate ceasefire, in Gaza with the simultaneous release of all hostages in order to stop this unprecedented humanitarian crisis.

“We will also address the issues related to Syria. We will condemn, I hope, the abhorrent terrorist attack that took place a few days ago targeting Greek Orthodox Christians and send a clear message to the transitional government of Syria that we demand the protection of all religious minorities.”

The prime minister also said that “we will also be concerned with the issues related to Libya, in which Libya intersects with foreign policy and migration policy priorities of the entire EU. I will have the opportunity to inform my colleagues about the significant increase in migration flows from eastern Libya and to request the support of the European Commission so that this issue can be addressed immediately. I want to express my satisfaction with the fact that the President of the European Commission responded immediately. The European Commissioner responsible, together with ministers from Italy, Greece and Malta, will be in eastern and western Libya in early July so that we can convey the message to the Libyan authorities that this practice can no longer be tolerated. As you know, Greece has already mobilised its Armed Forces so that there is a mission to monitor the Libyan authorities outside Libyan territorial waters, thus sending a clear message that we want, we demand, cooperation with the Libyan authorities so that these slave-trafficking boats either do not leave the coast, or return to the Libyan coast before they leave their territorial waters.”

The prime minister also referred to the Turkish-Libyan memorandum: “Greece will also request and I believe it will succeed in including explicit references to the illegal Turkish-Libyan memorandum of 2019 in the conclusions. We believe that the repetition of this European message now is absolutely essential so that it becomes clear to both Turkiye and Libya that this memorandum that was signed has essentially no practical and legal value.”

In addition, Mitsotakis stated: “At the same time, we will also discuss issues that have to do with European competitiveness. We will once again emphasise energy issues, how Europe can and should have more affordable energy, how the European energy market will work better for all consumers, how we will increase the penetration of RES so that we become more self-sufficient and not be dependent on expensive hydrocarbon imports from third countries, and, of course, on issues of competitiveness. We will also stress our will to support any effort by the European Commission that moves in the direction of simplifying and reducing European bureaucracy, which creates a big competitiveness problem for all European businesses.”

Source: pagenews.gr