By Penelope Galliou

Calmly and ready for any result that their ballot box will produce American elections The Greek government is monitoring the developments on the other side of the Atlantic, clarifying that “we will cooperate with any leadership”.

Despite the fact that Greece-US relations in recent years are at their best point ever, with solid foundations that are not easily disturbed, however, the Maximos Palace is also ready for a “plan B” in case the American popular verdict decides change in the occupant of the White House.

However, the message that the Prime Minister himself sent out during his regular monthly meeting with the President of the Republic was that “regardless of the election result in USAGreek-American relations are strategic and in terms of content will not be affected”.

After all, as expert analysts explain, referring to Greek-American relations, “they have strategic depth and are based on common interests and common pursuits in the Eastern Mediterranean, and therefore cooperation is a given with any President elected in the USA”.

Besides, as government officials observe, “each leader of each state serves the national colors and in this direction the government will continue its cooperation with the USA with each leadership”.

The same executives certainly do not overlook the fact that any change of baton in the US presidency will obviously bring about some shifts in foreign policy, not excluding greater introversion or isolation of the United States, in case of Donald Trump’s return.

“Everyone expects a different treatment towards Europe” they observe, noting however that this is an issue that concerns Europe as the European Union more than Greece at the level of bilateral relations.

At the level of bilateral relations, as the Minister of Immigration and Asylum Nikos Panagiotopoulos emphasized, speaking on state television, “we are in a very good place because of the MDCA, the strategic agreement on mutual defense assistance that we have signed with the US and it is being implemented.”

He explained that “Greece is a country of vital interest to the USA due to the fact that it is a country on the external border of the Western world, I would not say only of the European Union. Therefore the Americans are interested in Greece. Of course, the strategic interest also applies to Turkey. In any case, however, I don’t think it’s easy for our national interests to be affected depending on who will emerge as president in the USA,” stressed Mr. Panagiotopoulos.

A key role in the event of the election of Donald Trump will be played by the relations of the Greek government cultivated with people from his environment. Such a person is also the former Minister of Foreign Affairs Mike Pompeo with whom Kyriakos Mitsotakis maintains excellent relations and met privately with him just last week here in Athens. According to information, in the event of an electoral victory for the Republicans, Mr. Pompeo will probably assume a key position in an eventual Trump administration. Moreover, during Pompeo’s ministry, the bilateral Greece-US Strategic Dialogue was instituted, while the tripartite cooperation scheme in the Eastern Mediterranean of Greece, Cyprus and Israel was officially supported by the United States, making our country a strong “player” in the wider Mediterranean area and a factor of stability.

A question that concerns the next occupant of the White House, but also affects our country, is US-Turkish relations and the possibility of a return to a pro-Turkish policy, despite the fact that the current “problematic alliance” relationship between the US and Turkey is the culmination of a series of events that began during Trump’s presidency. Among other things, it is recalled that the decision to exclude Turkey from the F-35 fighter program was made during the presidency of Donald Trump.

In fact, under these conditions, the Turkish side is also particularly careful in its positions on the American elections, while Tayyip Erdogan’s recent statement when he was in New York for the UN General Assembly in September has its value, he said: “I hope that the next president will not make the outgoing one look better. Because, the issue of F-35 with the USA was not only experienced during the period of Mr. Donald Trump, but it continued even after. All of them disappointed us. Both Republicans and Democrats.”