With reference to the Russian strike in Odessaduring yesterday’s meeting with Volodymyr ZelenskyPrime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis began his speech at the EPP conference in Bucharest.

Together we are sending a message to the Kremlin, we will not be afraid, we will continue to support Ukraine and the brave Ukrainian people for as long as it takesstressed the prime minister, noting that no border change is tolerated.

“In this dark hour for Europe with the war in Ukraine, we have shown our determination in supporting Ukraine against this war with a united front, which our enemies perhaps did not expect. So we continue to support Ukraine financially, militarily, we have taken sanctions against Russia and we are sending the message that no violation of territorial sovereign rights and international law will be accepted by the European family.”

The prime minister also said that Greece “has a very important role. We already contribute a lot to NATO and we would like to encourage all other countries to reach the minimum 2% defense spending on NATO, so that we can strengthen our defence.”

Mr. Mitsotakis congratulated the EU leadership for tackling contemporary challenges, citing Ursula von der Leyen: “First of all as a European People’s Party we should be very proud of everything we have achieved in the last five years. It was not a given, it took a lot of effort to bring Europe to where it is today and we as the European People’s Party are truly pioneers in preparing the Union for the new reality that we are now called upon to face.

I would therefore like to congratulate Ursula for her own role in this great success and for her steadfast leadership at a time when we are facing unimaginable challenges, an unprecedented pandemic that truly shook the entire planet, an illegal and brutal war in the heart of Europe and an energy crisis that threatened to destabilize our economies. And of course these challenges were met and we should be proud because our response was very effective.”

He also made special reference to economic progress of Greece saying that “we couldn’t have done it without European help”.

In closing, the Prime Minister emphasized: “Nothing happens in Europe without the EPP, so it must be the dominant force again.”

The Mitsotakis speech

“Dear Manfred, dear Ursula, dear Roberta, dear colleagues in the European Council, ladies and gentlemen,

I cannot tell you, dear Donald, how glad I am to be able to address this conference after your speech. Congratulations and welcome back.

As many of the previous speakers have said, we have gathered here today in this historic European capital before an important battle. A battle that will shape the future of Europe. Our future. I would like to emphasize three points in my brief intervention:

First, as the EPP, we should be really proud of what we have achieved in the last five years. It was not a given, it took a lot of effort to bring Europe to where it is today. And we, the EPP, were at the forefront of all these efforts to prepare our European Union for the new reality we face today.

I want to personally congratulate Ursula for her part in this success and for her steadfast leadership in the midst of serious and unprecedented global challenges: a pandemic that shook the entire planet, a barbaric and illegal war of aggression in the heart of Europe, an energy crisis which threatened to destabilize our economies.

The challenges we face remain serious, but we should be proud of the effective way we have responded. We faced the pandemic with unity and solidarity.

We worked together to make the EU Recovery and Resilience Mechanism a reality, as Andrej said. For countries like Greece and Croatia, this is a historic deal.

I can assure you that the Fund’s resources are being put to good use: to promote the digital transition, create new jobs, strengthen social cohesion, accelerate economic growth and help with the green transition.

And of course, in Europe’s darkest hour, when war returned to our continent, we showed our resolve and unwavering support for Ukraine with an unprecedented – dare I say, surprising to some of our enemies – show of unity. Never before has the EU reacted in this way: imposing extensive sanctions on Russia, continuously supporting Ukraine militarily and financially.

And sending a clear message that no violation of International Law, territorial integrity or changing borders by force can ever be accepted by our European family. I was in Odessa yesterday with President Zelenskyy when a Russian ballistic missile hit the port during our visit to his facilities.

And, I believe, we are all sending a message to the Kremlin: We are not going to be afraid. We will continue to support Ukraine and its brave citizens as long as necessary. And of course, we remain absolutely united in our determination to do so.

In this debate about Europe’s defense autonomy, Greece, my country, has an important role to play. We are already one of the countries with the highest per capita defense spending in NATO and we encourage all other countries to take action to at least meet NATO’s minimum requirement for defense spending of 2% of GDP.

The second point I want to touch on is why the story of Greece’s change is intertwined with the great challenges we face today at the European level. The country I was called to govern, when I was elected for the first time in 2019, was considered by many to be the “sick” of Europe.

Today Greece is in a very different position and I thank you, Ursula, for your kind words about the significant progress Greece has made in the last five years. He has defeated – and this is important for our common European project – the empty promises of the populists, not once but twice. It continues to be in the hard core of Europe. And it is the positive surprise of the eurozone. We have managed to steer our economy towards sustainable growth while maintaining fiscal responsibility.

Who would have believed that in a little more than four years Greece could get from where it was to where it is today? Our credit rating has been restored, investment is at record levels, the Economist hails us as country of the year. I can tell you that we would not have been able to achieve this without significant European support.

This is the best possible proof that the plan we started in Greece, reforms that focus on the market economy, while maintaining the state’s obligation to intervene where there are market failures, liberal policies at home and effective implementation of the policy of responsible patriotism, these the policies actually work.

And that brings me to the third point: the challenges ahead and our priorities for the future. I would urge all of us to read carefully the manifesto that Manfred and his team have drawn up, because it sets out very clearly the big priorities for the day ahead and why it is so important that the European People’s Party remains the “fix of gravity”, the natural constant of the European Union. The political group that can boost Europe’s competitiveness, create growth and jobs and support a Europe with an enhanced geopolitical role.

We have talked a lot about the need to focus strategically on the economy. We have been very focused on the need to strengthen Europe’s competitiveness. I listened carefully to Karl Nehammer’s speech about the need to make our products more competitive in international markets. And indeed these are the challenges that the next European Commission, the next European Parliament will be asked to manage.

We must ensure that our political family, the European People’s Party, will have an active role in everything that happens in Europe. And that is why it is important that the European People’s Party is again the dominant force in the next European Parliament and I am sure that with the help of all of you we will succeed in achieving this goal.

Thank you very much.”