Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis revealed his plan to make same-sex marriage legal in Greece, among other things, in the full-length interview he gave to the Bloomberg agency.

This is a huge step in favor of the rights of the LGBTI+ community, in an area where some conservative governments are turning against the community, comments Bloomberg.

“Marriage between same-sex couples will become a reality at some point and that is part of our strategy. Greek society is much more ready and mature,” said Mr. Mitsotakis.

Some of the key points of the Prime Minister’s interview:

For economy and investment grade: “I want to continue to make Greece a very attractive destination for foreign investment”

“I think it changes a lot of things. There are many funds today that simply cannot invest in Greece because we do not have an investment grade. As you know, the markets treat Greek bonds as if we were an investment-grade country, but we also need the official “stamp” from the rating agencies. I believe it will further reduce our borrowing costs, which of course is important in a high interest rate environment.

»We managed to buck the trend, the Greek economy will grow significantly in 2023. This also gives us the fiscal space to further reduce our debt. We will be able before the end of the year to repay earlier the Greek Loan Facility (first memorandum) for the next two years. I think this will also send a positive message to the markets that not only are we focused on growth, but we also want to ensure that our debt-to-GDP ratio continues to decline at a very rapid pace.

“It is a commitment to investors. We will accelerate reforms and ensure that any reforms we implement are done in such a way that our country’s fiscal position is not compromised.”

“This is not just about management. It’s not just about playing defense. It’s really about changing the country.”

Policy: “I am happy because, essentially, we prevailed through the politics of competence and logic, we moved the party towards the political center. So yes, there is a future beyond populism.”

Athens International Airport: The Prime Minister announced that the initial public offering (IPO) for the 30% held by the state in the equity composition of Athens International Airport will take place in early 2024.

“The initial public offering (IPO) for Athens Airport will be a big event for 2024,” he said. “We want to give greater depth to the Athens Stock Exchange and for the first time there is real interest from companies to be listed on the Athens Stock Exchange.”

Turkey: Referring to Greek-Turkish relations and ahead of his meeting with President Erdogan in Vilnius, the Prime Minister stated: “I believe it is time to redefine our relationship with Turkey after four difficult years.”

The Prime Minister said a road map for de-escalation of tensions “will help us find a way to deal with what we consider to be the one, main outstanding problem we have with Turkey”, which he identified as the delimitation of maritime zones in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean, i.e. the continental shelf and the EEZ.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis made it clear that Greece is not willing to discuss with Turkey issues related to Greek sovereignty or defense. “These are issues that are simply not up for debate,” he said.