The Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in his statements immediately after his meeting with the Prime Minister of Latvia, Chrisianis Karinsthanked him for congratulating him on his re-election and pointed out that the election result showed that genuinely progressive center-right policies can stand up to empty promises and populism, which is also the message of securing a second term.

He underlined that last year we celebrated 100 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries and despite the geographical distance we face political and economic challenges in a common way.

He spoke about good communication within the European Council during the past four years, when critical decisions had to be made on issues such as the energy crisis, but also the need for the European Union to move quickly in the green transition.

The prime minister emphasized that “there is no prosperity without security and freedom” he referred to the need to continue supporting Ukraine against the Russian invasion, a topic that will of course be discussed at the upcoming NATO meeting in Vilnius.

He emphasized, that both countries hope for quick admission to NATO of Sweden and referred to the reference previously made by the Latvian prime minister to the strengthening of his country’s defense spending.

He underlined that defense spending should be treated differently precisely because it is different from other spending and stressed the importance of EU defense policy under the umbrella of NATO.

Mr. Mitsotakis then stated that although we face different challenges in terms of immigration, both countries agree on the need to effectively guard the EU’s external borders. He added that this is not the only issue, of course, for an issue that must be addressed as a whole and to seek a European formula of common acceptance and understanding.

“Immigration” he emphasized “is an issue that concerns the EU as a whole and it is unfair for countries like Greece to shoulder alone the burden of guarding passages like that of the Mediterranean or to be accused of not saving lives, when every day their authorities they are fighting this battle at sea against the traffickers who are responsible for every tragedy”.

He reiterated that “the fewer ships try to cross the Mediterranean the less likely we are to have human tragedies” and pointed out that “we have broken the model of smugglers in the eastern Mediterranean sea route, which we must do in the entire Mediterranean”.

“We now have a much better mutual understanding of each other’s positions on a number of geopolitical issues,” the prime minister concluded, stressing that this is the meaning of membership in the EU or in the NATO.

In his brief introductory statement, the Prime Minister of Latvia, Krisjanis Karins, pointed out, among other things:

We discussed matters of common interest. We will meet in Vilnius and we will also talk there about a number of serious issues.

He congratulated the Greek Prime Minister on his election and pointed out that we have a common approach to continue supporting Ukraine.

He underlined the need to continue to look for ways to strengthen security and stressed that his country intends to increase its defense budget as a percentage of GDP her, something she hopes to achieve from next year.

He underlined the importance of strengthening the security of the EU’s external borders, pointing out that migration is a challenge and must be controlled.

The subject of the meeting was the economic cooperation of the two countries in the context of our joint participation in both the European Union and NATO, but also the European immigration policy.

It is to be noted that this is the first visit of a Greek prime minister to Latvia in the last twenty years.