Greece: Press remarks by High Representative/Vice-President Kaja Kallas ahead the meeting with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis
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Thank you, dear Kyriakos for having me here and greeting us so warmly. It is great pleasure to be back here.
Greece is an important and committed partner of the European Union. You are making vital contributions to Common Foreign Security Policy. For example, the Greek troops that are working for our EU Althea Operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Just a few days ago, I was also there because the mandate was extended one year.
Then also Greece contributes to the ships to our naval operations in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. Your support really helps to keep those waterways open.
You are also a staunch supporter of Ukraine, both diplomatically, militarily, financially. It is important because, right now, we see Russia not showing any signs of wanting really peace. Continued support to Ukraine, but also the pressure on Russia, is very important.
The new sanctions package, that just was adopted two weeks ago, will increase the pressure on Russia's economy. And we see they are not actually doing well. The sanctions are really working. These are addressing energy, finance and military industrial base to deprive Russia millions of euros to fund its war.
And most of the Russia's income really comes from the shadow fleet of dirty tankers and these pose a real threat to our seas as well, when it comes to environmental worries. There are now over 550 ships covered by sanctions, but this has not killed the business model yet. I know that this is also something that we need to discuss further, how we can really increase the cost for the Russians to sail their shadow fleet and not really affect our ships here.
Also, like you mentioned, our own defence is very important. Greece has been investing 2% for quite some time, but unfortunately, not all the European Member States have. We need to do more collectively. We must close the capability gaps, we must increase investments in defence, and also boost our own defence industry and strengthen support for Ukraine as well. And this is always what I say, that defence is not an alternative to prosperity, but actually it is a precondition. And here you know this very well.
We will definitely also discuss your neighbourhood. You mentioned Western Balkans. I think enlargement is extremely important, and I think we can really make tangible progress there. We also discussed Türkiye and the improvement of Greece-Türkiye relations is good news for the stability of the Eastern Mediterranean. And, as you are in a very important geostrategic position, it is a bridge between Middle Eastern and Europe, also close to the Black Sea, so, definitely, all these regions need to boost security, resilience, connectivity also with those regions - on energy, transport, environmental protection, and you play an important role here.
Thank you once again for having us and looking forward to our discussions.
Link to the video: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/media/video/I-280237