The Prime Minister met with the Regional Governor of Central Macedonia, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, who will be nominated for the position of the Greek Commissioner in the European Commission who will serve during the new European cycle.

The Prime Minister estimated that we will know at the end of the month the portfolio that our country will take over. He also reminded that the allocation of portfolios is the exclusive prerogative of the President of the European Commission. But he added that he believes that “Greece will be able to claim a portfolio that will reflect both the significant progress it has achieved in recent years, but also the special, I would say, geostrategic and geopolitical role that our country has in the wider Balkans, in southeastern Europe.”

In particular, at the beginning of the meeting, Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Apostolos Tzitzikostas had the following dialogue:

Apostolos Tzitzikostas: First of all, I want to thank you warmly for your decision to nominate me as the next Greek Commissioner to the European Union.

It is for me, I want you to know this, a unique honor and responsibility. With my experience in the European institutions I am well aware of the challenges facing the European Union today and I am determined to work hard to create a Europe that meets the expectations of our fellow citizens.

And of course, this decision of yours also constitutes a recognition of the role and dynamics of northern Greece and Macedonia, in which you have personally invested in many important projects in recent years.

I want you to know and I want our fellow citizens to know that my commitment is to continue working for the development and improvement of the daily life of our fellow citizens, serving Greece and the European Union with a sense of duty and responsibility.

My guide, as in all these years on this course and now, will continue to be the strong relationship of trust with the citizens. Thank you again, President.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis: Mr. Regional Governor, dear Apostole, it is with great satisfaction that I welcome you today at the Maximos Palace following the official announcement by the government that you will be Greece’s proposal to assume the duties of the next Greek Commissioner in Brussels.

You are a person who has played a great course in Local Government, elected Regional Governor for a decade and with very high percentages, which shows a wider political acceptance, in the second largest Region of the country. But at the same time you are also a person who knows the European institutions well as you have been President of the Committee of the Regions.

I believe that it is precisely the connection between the ability to unite local and regional priorities with the major European imperatives that makes you a person who has all the guarantees to carry out this very difficult and nationally demanding mission of being the next Greek Commissioner in Brussels.

I wish you good success, good strength, good preparation in the process, because there is – as our fellow citizens know – a demanding hearing process in the European Parliament.

I think at the end of the month we will know the portfolio that our country will take over. Let me remind you that it is the exclusive prerogative of the President of the European Commission to allocate the portfolios, but I believe that Greece will be able to claim a portfolio that will reflect both the significant progress it has achieved in recent years, but also the special, I would say, geostrategic and geopolitical role that our country has in the wider Balkans, in southeastern Europe.

So, good strength, good success and I say this I believe interpreting the feelings of all Greek women and all Greeks.

Finally, I would also like to say a “thank you” to the Vice-President of the European Commission, the current Greek Commissioner, Margaritis Schinas, we really had an excellent cooperation on critical issues, such as the immigration portfolio, which is a great open challenge and for our homeland.