Kyriakos Mitsotakis warns that the Greek-Turkish conflict affects the EU as a whole

The NEF forum held this Friday analysed the dispute between Greece and Turkey in the Mediterranean and the concerns expressed about this and Turkish expansionism. The event brought together the President of the Popular Party, Pablo Casado, the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Secretary General of the European People's Party, Antonio López Istúriz, and the Vice-President of the European Commission, also from Greece, Margaritis Schinás. 

The dispute between Greece and Turkey in the Aegean Sea was one of the main issues discussed. In this respect, Mitsokatis thanked Casado and the European leaders for their support. He also made it clear that the conflict between the two countries is something that affects the EU as a whole. Nevertheless, he hopes that the negotiation will take place in good faith. 

On this issue, the Secretary General of the EPP, Antonio López Istúriz, declared the EPP's support for both the Greek and Cypriot governments (both from his political family) and expressed his hope that Turkey would sit down to negotiate. 

Casado began by thanking the Vice-President of the Commission for his support for the EU recovery plan. He also wished to highlight the figure of Mitsotakis, and his management since he took office, succeeding the leader of Syriza, Alexis Tsipras. He highlighted the renovation that he managed to carry out in the party in order to confront the emergence of the extreme right, first of Golden Dawn and then of Greek Solution, of which he recalled that it forms part of the same group in the European Parliament as VOX. "Mitsotakis decided to be an alternative and to win with moderation and proposals", he said. 

According to Casado, "the market economy, Europe and freedom" form the "virtuous triangle" that makes countries progress. 

On the other hand, he took advantage of the forum to attack the Spanish government over the management of European recovery funds, giving as an example that, while in Greece it will be a Nobel Prize winner in Economics who will manage the distribution of funds, in Spain, in his opinion, this is not being done correctly.

"Greece has gone from being a problem for the European Union to contributing with proposals such as vaccination certificates", Casado said, referring to the measure proposed by the Greek Prime Minister, which would allow vaccinated people to travel freely in EU territory. 

For his part, the main guest, the Greek prime minister, considers that his government "has done a good job" and is "one of the countries with the best results in terms of responding to the pandemic". 

An unfavourable context that Mitsokatis believes can be taken advantage of to carry out structural reforms to create more jobs and reduce inequality. The premier said he was confident that the recovery would be swift, but stressed the importance of working at the supranational level. 

He also hopes that the EU will approve the vaccination certificate in order to have a better tourist season than last year. This is an extremely important sector for the countries of southern Europe. 

The Secretary General of the EPP, López Istúriz, also mentioned the new generation of young party leaders in government and opposition. Specifically, he referred to the Irish Prime Minister, Leo Varadkar, the Austrian Prime Minister, Sebastian Kurz, and Casado himself. "We have a bench", he assured. 

Istúriz said that the management of funds is an "absolute priority" and considers that the central government must share information with the autonomous governments and local councils in order to coordinate. 

Commissioner Schinás focused his speech on the European vaccination programme, sending out a reassuring message regarding the distribution of the vaccine, assuring that the rate of distribution "is going to improve". According to Mr Schinás, 24 million Europeans are currently vaccinated. 

Another issue he discussed was the recovery fund, which he described as a "unique opportunity" to emerge from the crisis and finance structural reforms such as the ecological transition and digital transformation. Although he warned that "there will be no investment without reforms". 

Mitsokatis said he was in favour of European funds to overcome the economic crisis generated by COVID-19 involving reforms which, in his opinion, would improve "the competitiveness of EU economies".

When asked about Europe's future on the international stage, now that Biden is president, China is becoming a major power, Brexit has been consummated and there have been episodes such as Borrell's visit to Russia, Mitsokatis said he hoped that this debate would take place in the near future. However, he believes that it is not easy to make important geopolitical decisions in the EU, given that 27 countries make up the EU bloc. 

In relation to this issue, Istúriz pointed out that we must know where we want to go, and recognise mistakes such as unanimity in foreign affairs, which "undermines our presence in world events". With regard to Spain, he believes that it is "necessary for the Government to share with the entire political spectrum" the discussion on "how we want to build this European future from Spain". 

The Secretary General of the European People's Party also called for greater coordination between the southern countries of the EU, and between these and the southern neighbourhood.