Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis gave an interview to “Radio Thessaloniki” and mentioned, among other things, the construction of the fence in Evros.

The prime minister stressing that the fence “is not a given only for the Akrites, but for the vast majority of our fellow citizens the fact that a country must protect its borders”.

He added that “the fence is not the only tool we have, we have also hired local border guards from Evros, we have strengthened the means of surveillance and our Coast Guard.

“I am impressed why something that should be self-evident is a field of controversy and SYRIZA officially requests not to be financed by European funds. We have not yet convinced the Commission to take this step and I consider it inconceivable that a Greek MEP would ask to be paid by the Greek taxpayer,” Mitsotakis said.

Regarding how Europeans see this specific case, he said: “There are objections from some who do not realize that you are on the external borders of the EU, maybe they have some more rightful references. They should come to Evros, see the real situation and maybe then they will change their minds”.

The prime minister said that “the E.U. it finances a series of actions for the refugee, it does not finance the construction of the fence itself. We will try to convince them to take this step as well. Otherwise, it will be built with national resources.

“If we don’t have a fence, then what? Will everyone enter as they wish and will we risk finding ourselves the subject of geopolitical pressures with some who exploit immigrants? What happened in Evros was also done 18 months later in Lithuania by the dictator of Belarus, Lukashenko.”

Referring to Alexis Tsipras, he emphasized that “I don’t know what Mr. Tsipras will do, I hear many different voices. But I’m sure he won’t continue on the fence and launch the expansion we have planned.”