By Penelope Galliou

Having proven that Greece is a pillar of stability, in the extraordinary conditions that prevail in the wider Eastern Mediterranean region but also in the heart of Europe with the unfolding war in Ukraine, the Kyriakos Mitsotakis from the Ukraine-Southeast Europe Summit issued a message of support to the trying Ukraine. From Dubrovnik, the Greek Prime Minister pointed out that this war concerns the entire planet and noted that Greece is ready to support Kiev in its next steps. Besides, as the conditions are taking shape and the geopolitical situation and the security situation in Europe make enlargement imperative and he called on the countries that are on the spectrum of accession to respect the fundamental European values ​​and implement the required reforms for their accession perspective.

More specifically, during his intervention in Plenary of the 3rd Ukraine – Southeast Europe Summit the prime minister underlined the importance of continuing the initiative taken by Greece first by organizing the first Ukraine-Southeast Europe Summit on August 21, 2023. He emphasized that, as underlined at the time with the Joint Declaration of Athens adopted by the leaders, the Western The Balkans, Ukraine and Moldova have a common European history and a common European future, while he emphasized that it is important that candidate countries and member states, despite their differences, sit at the table and exchange views.

At Dubrovnik the Greek Prime Minister cut the thread of a dense diplomatic week, which started yesterday on the coast of Croatia and is expected to end next week with the Summit in Brussels. After the Ukraine-Southeast Europe Summit, Kyriakos Mitsotakis will go to Cyprus to participate on Friday in the summit of the leaders of the European south in Paphos with the refugee-immigrant agenda, while all regional developments in the wider region will be in focus. A crucial meeting for what is going on in the Eastern Mediterranean, in which nine European countries – MED9 – but also the King of Jordan and the President of the European Commission participate.
“The issue of the Middle East is the one that will dominate”, predicted Nikos Christodoulidis, who also had contact with the president of Egypt, Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, with whom they extensively discussed regional developments in the region and shared their common concern for wider and uncontrolled escalation of tension and conflict, which may have serious regional implications. They underlined the need to de-escalate the crisis and discussed the efforts being made in this direction.

The last stop of Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ international contacts will be the Summit of European leaders who on October 17 will open up all the burning issues regarding Ukraine, the Middle East, competitiveness, immigration and foreign affairs. A day earlier, on the 16th, EU leaders will meet their counterparts from the Persian Gulf region at the first EU-GCC summit.