Kiriakos Mitsik about the summit in Brussels

The Prime Minister of Greece Kiriacos Mitsikitis warmly welcomed the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky during the summit in Brussels.

How Notice Politico, European leaders may look smiling and cheerful, but what is happening behind closed doors is extremely difficult. The main issue EU there is a discussion of How to soften the rules of the European Union in order to increase defense costs.

The last draft of the summit resolution, which is expected to be changed during the meeting, calls for the European Commission to “study further measures” in order to provide countries with more budgetary opportunities for defense costs, in addition to the immediate entry into force of a temporary reservation.

Then the negotiations moved to the issue of Ukraine. A sharp “freezing” of assistance to Kyiv by US President Donald Trump provoked a feverish search for means to replace lost economic packages and military equipment. However, according to the diplomats with whom Politico talked, the leaders of European countries are unlikely to quickly overcome disagreements.

From the point of view Greece Prime Minister Kiriakos Mitsikitisisthe goal is to make it clear: Europe has a unified and consistent position in relation to Ukraine. He stated that it was time for important decisions for the EU.

At the same time, the Prime Minister of Greece emphasized that at an extraordinary meeting of the council “we will first discuss the proposals submitted by the chairman of the commission on how we can radically strengthen our holding potential as the EU”. Then Mitsotakis expressed his satisfaction:

“Greece and I personally fought for a long time to convince European institutions that what is beginning today should have been done for a long time. I especially welcome proposals for further budgetary flexibility, so that the member states that already spend more than 2% of GDP on defense expenses, in this case, could continue to do this, since it is very important that this budget flexibility extends to all member states. To encourage those who spend a little, spend more, and reward those who are already spending more and, possibly, allow them to spend more on a common European defense. ”

In addition, Kiriakos Mitsotakis emphasized:

“In our efforts to support Ukraine in achieving a fair and sustainable solution, under any circumstances, we should not refuse efforts to engage the United States in this new form of a sustainable world, which will be based primarily on force. It is important that we can provide Ukraine with security guarantees the next day, and the United States should also participate in this security guarantees, and we must constantly strive to convince the United States that this is ultimately in their own interests. ”

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