In a historic, as well as critical, NATO Summit, the one in Vilnius, Lithuania, which begins its work today and assesses Sweden’s accession to the North Atlantic Treatythe Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, will participate, for his first participation in an Alliance Summit after his election victory.

This participation will also be, according to government sources, an opportunity for important meetings of the prime minister with European leaders. In this context, Kyriakos Mitsotakis will meet in the morning on the sidelines of the Synod with the President of France, Emmanuel Macron. In addition, after the meeting he will have with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Prime Minister will meet with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

According to the same sources, these are the first meetings of the Prime Minister with the President of France and the Chancellor of Germany after the great victory of the New Republic and while there were brief greetings between them at the last European Council. These meetings also allow for a comprehensive exchange of views on issues on the European and bilateral agenda. The program of meetings will be completed with the leader of North Macedonia Dimitar Kovacevski.

This afternoon, Kyriakos Mitsotakis will have a private meeting with the Prime Minister of Albania Edi Rama in their first contact after the serious crisis caused by the arrest of Fredis Beleris in Greek-Albanian relations. The prime minister will also meet with the Montenegrin counterpart.

During the NATO meeting in Vilnius, among other things, the implementation of the decisions of Madrid to adapt the deterrent and defense arrangement of the Alliance to the new security environment, which is being formed after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the increase of the resources available by the Allies to strengthen their defense capabilities, but also the form that the continuation of aid and assistance to Ukraine will take.

Today, in the first session of the leaders, with the participation of Sweden, it is expected to discuss the long-term adjustment of the defense and deterrent arrangement, the revision of the Defense Investment Commitment, the accession perspective of Ukraine and the type of support that will be provided to it, as well as strengthening the defense industry and strengthening NATO’s resilience.

On Wednesday, in the second meeting, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky will participate in the first session of the NATO-Ukraine Council. The Presidents of the European Council and the European Commission, the Asia-Pacific partners, namely Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea, will also participate, as well as Sweden as an invitee.