The leadership of North Macedonia will realize that the agreements must be respected, the prime minister emphasized in his statements to journalists after the end of the NATO Summit in Washington.

Mr. Mitsotakis, however, emphasized that Greece will not reveal the weapons it has at its disposal to respond to a possible persistence of Skopje in this tactic.

At the same time, Mr. Mitsotakis noted that he informed the allies that the Prime Minister of North Macedonia has chosen not to use the country’s constitutional name

However, he mentioned that in the NATO room, Mr. Mickoski did not follow this tactic and used the constitutional name North Macedonia.

The prime minister also said that Greece does not participate in the initiative of other countries to send F-16 to Ukraine and will not provide Kiev with Patriot or S 300 missile systems

The Prime Minister also noted that during the Summit it became clear that Europe must take concrete steps to strengthen its own defense.

Referring to the proposal they have made with Donald Tusk for the air defense of Europe, he noted that it is a proposal that has been heard positively in many capitals. However, he stressed there is still no agreement.

Regarding the contacts he had in Washington with the American officials, Mr. Mitsotakis emphasized that we reaffirmed the excellent level of relations between the two countries

The interview in detail

*Nikos Meletis (ERT):* Mr. President, we have also seen here that Mr. Mickoski continues to ignore the warnings of both Athens and international actors regarding the faithful observance of the Prespa Agreement regarding the use of the constitutional name. Is the Greek Government considering making use of the provisions of Article 19 of the Agreement, which provides for a specific procedure in the event that violations are found?

*Kyriakos Mitsotakis:* I had the opportunity, Mr. Meletis, to inform my colleagues of the fact that the Prime Minister of North Macedonia has chosen not to implement a crucial article of the Agreement regarding the unified name of the neighboring country against all and to call the country of “Republic of Macedonia” within the borders, which is apparently expressly prohibited by the Agreement.

Of course, I want to point out that in the room and in the presence of all the NATO leaders, he did not follow this tactic and used the constitutional name of his country.

Beyond that, I believe that one way or another the leadership of the neighboring country will realize that this tactic is completely counterproductive. Agreements must be kept. It is something that I emphasized yesterday at the NATO Plenary and it is something that, I think, all our allies also understand.

We want North Macedonia to take steps towards a European approach. This presupposes, however, respect for International Law and respect for the agreements that the country has apparently signed. I believe that one way or another this is something that the leadership of Skopje will realize.

In any case, Greece will not reveal at this time the weapons it has at its disposal to respond to a possible persistence of the neighboring country’s leadership in this tactic.

*Yannis Kantelis (SKAI):* We saw you talking yesterday with Mr. Erdoğan and raising the issue of Cyprus, the fact that it remains divided after 50 years. We see a movement on the part of the United Nations, you yourself will meet tomorrow with Mr. Guterres, about the Cyprus issue.

First of all, if there was any reaction from Mr. Erdoğan’s side about this issue when you raised it. And, secondly, if we should wait for some immediate developments around the Cyprus issue and the resumption of the dialogue.

*Kyriakos Mitsotakis:* First of all, the Greek Government and I personally have expressed our satisfaction with the fact that there is yet another initiative of the United Nations Organization.

Indeed, the Personal Envoy has submitted her first findings to the Secretary-General. I don’t know the details of the content so I can’t comment on it.

The Greek Government, however, still supports the resumption of talks between the two communities, apparently on the basis of the resolutions of the United Nations Organization. It is a position from which Athens and Nicosia, Nicosia and Athens, do not deviate.

I will have the opportunity to be in Cyprus on the evening of July 20, at the invitation of President Christodoulidis, to participate in an event that will take place at the Presidential Palace.

Beyond that, I will also discuss tomorrow with the Secretary General how he can get involved in another effort, which we consider imperative to be done, so that this great wound can finally be closed. Fifty years after the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, may Cyprus finally cease to be the last divided island located within European territory and may there be a fair, viable and sustainable solution to the Cyprus issue.

*Nikos Armenis (MEGA and APE-MPE):* Mr. President, I will also insist on the Cyprus issue, in view of your meeting tomorrow with Mr. Guterres, and he also has Ms. Holguín’s report. Rumors have been circulating lately, strong rumours, a strong rumor about a multilateral meeting coming up. Are these rumors true, and if so, what shape will it take?

*Kyriakos Mitsotakis:* Let me tell you something about this, Mr. Armeni. As I told you, I do not even know the details of the content of Ms. Holguín’s report. What is imperative right now is to start talks between the two communities.

*Giorgos Papakonstantinou (Action24):* Mr. President, your one reference to the interview you gave to Ms. Schadlow in the context of the NATO Public Forum, has caused strong reactions, but also criticisms in Greece from the official opposition, which accuses you of “you admitted gaps” in the Greek defense, on the occasion of the strengthening – which we support – of the Ukrainian defense. What is true and how do you respond to these criticisms?

*Kyriakos Mitsotakis:* But I never said such a thing. And I would like to take this opportunity to remind, to all those who circulate this kind of misinformation, two facts.

The first is that Greece has surplus material to support Ukraine, always with the agreement of the General Staff of National Defense and the Ministry of National Defense. And I have said many times that in no way do these moves we are making call into question the country’s deterrent capability. So, on this point I don’t think there is any possibility of misinterpretation of my statements.

I also want to point out that some of the hardware that we have is hardware that may soon expire in terms of its operational capabilities and we would end up paying money, additional money, quite a bit, to destroy that hardware.

So much for those spreading these rumours. After all, those who insist on peddling such scenarios are known.

My second broader observation is: let us finally objectively assess the capabilities of the Armed Forces in 2024 and compare them with the capabilities of the Greek Armed Forces in 2019. The country has systematically invested in strengthening the Armed Forces after a ten-year crisis. We are one of the countries that spends the largest percentage of GDP on strengthening the Armed Forces.

It is simply worth seeing the Rafales flying in the Greek skies, the Romeo helicopters that are already operating, the rapid upgrade of the F-16s, the Belh@rra frigates, which will join the Navy in 2025 and 2026, for to find out if today the country is really stronger and safer than it was when the Greek citizens trusted us for the first time, in 2019, to govern the country.

*Thanasis Tsitsas (ANT1 and Real News):* Mr. President, if there is any development within the NATO Summit, in relation to the initiative you took with your Polish counterpart for the European air defense shield. And the second question: how do you respond to criticism that the delivery of F-16s to Kiev is a dangerous escalation?

*Kyriakos Mitsotakis:* Regarding the issue of our initiative, I want to remind you, Mr. Tsitsa, that it is a European initiative. But what I think also became clear at this Summit is that Europe needs to do more to strengthen its own defense capability. Spend more resources but at the same time do it in a smarter way. And that this does not undermine NATO, but instead strengthens NATO.

And that it is very likely that, in order to be able to ensure our own defense as Europeans, we will need to look for other financial tools beyond the national budgets, which in fact have their limits, especially in a period of budgetary tightening at the European level .

That is why the proposal that I submitted with the Polish Prime Minister also has the dimension of European funding. I want to emphasize that we are not there yet, we have not reached any European agreement on something like this, but it is a proposal that has been heard positively in many European capitals.

Beyond that, I want to be clear that Greece does not have F-16s in the F-16 initiative. There are other countries that have made this choice. But our purpose is to enable Ukraine to defend itself in the most effective way.

I imagine you also saw the scenes from the horrific Russian attack on a children’s hospital a few days ago, the largest children’s hospital in Ukraine. This is the reality that Ukrainians are experiencing.

And if we want to talk about a sustainable and just peace, we should know that this peace cannot be achieved under conditions of capitulation of Ukraine. And in order for Ukraine not to capitulate, we should all continue to support it.

I think this is a message that has been delivered with great intensity by all my colleagues, with one exception – you can probably tell which one it is. But NATO is united in this effort to support Ukraine, so that we can get to the point of discussing a just solution, but with conditions of dignity and relative parity.

*Georgia Garantziotis (OPEN and KYPE):* Mr. President, you answered my one question a while ago, about the F-16s. So in continuation of this question, again about Ukraine, I would like to ask you if Greece, like other countries, was asked to reinforce Ukraine with anti-aircraft systems, for example, the Russian-Soviet ones that we have in Greece, which can be replaced by NATO, by American, by Patriot.

*Kyriakos Mitsotakis:* I have repeated that Greece will not provide Ukraine with either Patriot systems or S-300 systems. We have deployed other types of anti-aircraft systems, of shorter range, always – let me repeat this – with the agreement of the General Staff of National Defense, to support Ukraine in this very difficult battle that it is fighting.

*Dimitris Soultogiannis (STAR):* Mr. President, we saw that the Alliance is giving F-16s to Ukraine. Was there any concern among the allies about Russia’s reaction, which has already begun and they are publicly making statements? Also, the second question is that we saw that you had some snapshots with President Biden and Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, if any of our national issues were discussed, even on the fly.

*Kyriakos Mitsotakis:* I think I already answered you about the F-16 issue.

Always on the sidelines of these summit meetings we have the opportunity to discuss, even briefly, issues that concern us. And with President Biden soon, but also a little more extensively with the American Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, we reaffirmed the excellent level of Greek-American relations and discussed some common challenges and the issues that concern us, of course, in the wider Balkan region.