Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis answered journalists’ questions about the first conclusions of the European Council’s informal summit.

Asked about Greek-Turkish relations and the meeting with the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Budapest, Mr. Mitsotakis said that normality should be the goal in neighborly relations.

Commenting on today’s meeting between Giorgos Gerapetritis and Hakan Fidan at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Prime Minister said that the statements of the two confirmed the good climate that exists with Turkey, but that the framework for discussion on the EEZ and the continental shelf has not yet been determined.

“I saw the statements of Mr. Gerapetritis and Mr. Fidan and they confirm the good climate in which we can build but there is still no common framework for our only difference on EEZ and continental shelf”.

Greece is coming to this discussion from a strong position and of course we are talking and even if we cannot find a framework to resolve our main dispute we must maintain calm waters, stressed the Prime Minister.

During the work of the informal meeting of the European Council in Budapest, the issue of competitiveness dominated.

European leaders discussed the Draghi report on the priorities to make the European product more competitive and Europe autonomous.

“We had the opportunity to have a detailed discussion with Mr. Draghi and to comment on the very topical and critical issues that he highlights in his report, as I had the opportunity to say yesterday and I believe that there is an agreement in the European Council, that we must pass from words to actions and that the issues of the European economy must be dealt with in a much more drastic way than we have done so far”, stressed the Prime Minister.

Subsequently, Mr. Mitsotakis mentioned he said and focused on three individual areas: “the issues of innovation and productivity. Europe still lags behind in issues related to innovation and very interesting ideas were submitted on how we can bridge this gap with companies, we dealt with energy issues and finally we also discussed the issues of military autonomy, defense”.

Mr. Mitsotakis also noted that “we dealt with energy issues and the competitiveness problem facing Europe. Price distortions must be addressed with a sense of urgency.”

“I think it is a commonplace that Europe today faces a big competitiveness problem in terms of energy, despite the fact that we invest a lot in renewable sources, and I think it is extremely positive that in the Budapest declaration there is an explicit reference to price distortions of the energy market that must be addressed as a matter of urgency.”

“However, in order for the European energy market to work for the benefit of all European consumers, two important interventions will have to be made. The first concerns connections. We need more European connections, which may have to be financed by European, public and not just private funds. And I believe that we now have to fundamentally revisit the issues that have to do with pricing, the way the price of electricity is priced, so that natural gas does not determine the marginal price of the system, as is done today, since natural gas as a rule it’s much more expensive than renewables,” he noted.

At the same time, Mr. Mitsotakis said that the issues of the strategic autonomy of the defense were also discussed. “I have spoken many times about the need for greater investment in the European defense industry. Obviously, we are still a long way from a discussion on common European defense resources. But I had the opportunity again today to talk about an intervention that will be able to give more fiscal space to those countries that choose to invest significant amounts in defense. Our country invests almost 3% of its GDP in defense. I believe the time has come to discuss, even though we agreed relatively recently in the new budget rules, an amount of this defense spending to be excluded from the spending ceiling calculations. It’s a proposition I will continue to stand by. There is no need for this proposal to add European money, we just need to look a little differently at the way we calculate the fiscal rules from now on.”

“The election of Trump in the United States has made it clear to many of us that this necessity to support European competitiveness becomes even more urgent after developments in the US,” said the prime minister, who added that he would be able to speak with the newly elected president immediately.

Asked about Trump’s election, Mr. Mitsotakis said that “I believe and all of us in the European Council believe in the great importance of Euro-Atlantic relations. These are relationships that have been nurtured for many decades and I believe that we will find a way with the new President to strengthen them even more, each of us assuming our share of the responsibility.”

“I had the opportunity to say in the European Council that when President Trump held many European states accountable for not spending even 2% of their GDP on defense, he was right in principle. And I think that his urging led European states to increase their defense budgets. And of course after the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the geopolitical instability in the world in general, everyone understands that this is now a necessity.”

The prime minister also emphasized that “there are issues that will concern Euro-Atlantic relations as a whole. If we enter, for example, a new trade war? I hope not. I think there’s room for us to see a de-escalation of the rhetoric about imposing tariffs here and there. Because obviously when such a war starts, it doesn’t just stop at the actions of one party. And of course let me repeat that as far as Greek-American relations are concerned, they remain extremely strong.”

“They are relations with a strategic content, they are relations shielded through the defense agreement we have signed, which I want to remind you is already five years long. These are positions, moreover, which were also confirmed by the fact that when I was invited to speak to the American Congress, the invitation came from both the Democrats and the Republican congressmen and senators.”

“I will have the opportunity to speak with President Trump in the next few days. Besides, as you know, I am one of the oldest European leaders in the European Council, so I am one of those who had the opportunity to work with him during the first presidential campaign. of the term”, said Mr. Mitsotakis.