K. Mitsotakis | Prime Minister in Brussels for the Eastern Partnership Summit

Defence Redefined

15/12/2021

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is leaving for Brussels today to participate in the Eastern Partnership Summit on December 15 and the European Council meeting on December 16.

The cooperation of the EU with its eastern neighbors will be the focus of the 6th Eastern Partnership Summit, which will be attended by EU leaders and the leaders of five of the six Eastern Partnership partners (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus). Belarus was not invited, as it has withdrawn from the group.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis will express Greece’s support for the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of the Eastern Partnership partners.

According to government sources, at the same time, he will emphasize the importance of aligning them with decisions and statements of the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy, especially those concerning the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and sovereign rights of the EU member-states.

The Prime Minister is still expected to announce his recent meeting in Sochi with the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and will emphasize that all sides must work for de-escalation, as no one will end up victorious after a conflict.

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On Thursday, the Prime Minister will attend the European Council Summit and the dinner of the leaders of the Eurozone countries.

The pandemic, the “Omicron” mutation, and vaccinations will be on the agenda of the Summit as well as the issue of rising energy prices across Europe. The situation in Ukraine, the Immigration Service, will also be presented to the 27 on the occasion of the developments on the border with Belarus and the message for horizontal measures against those who use the Immigration Service.

The leaders will also have the first exchange of views on the new EU strategic doctrine, based on the “strategic compass”, the document submitted for discussion by the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell. 

The position of the Prime Minister and the Government is that the text must respond to the threats faced by the Union. It is also recalled that Kyriakos Mitsotakis was one of the first EU leaders who spoke about the need to advance the debate on the strategic autonomy of the EU already from the Med9 Summit in Athens as well as from the podium of the UN General Assembly last September, emphasizing that it will strengthen NATO’s European defence pillar. The goal is for the leaders to conclude the text for the strategic compass in March 2022.

Source: AMNA

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