Georgia Skitzi (ERT): Mr Prime Minister, I would like to ask you what are the expectations created after this two-day meeting here in Switzerland for a future peace process between the two parties, given that Moscow is setting its own conditions, which are not acceptable. And also, has a new window of opportunity opened for another such summit?
Kyriakos Mitsotakis: First of all, the very fact that this summit took place with the participation of almost 100 countries is an important global affirmation of the need to finally achieve a just and lasting peace in this war.
Countries not only from the European Union but from all corners of the world were here in Switzerland, reaffirming that the war in Ukraine is an issue that concerns not only our continent but essentially the whole planet.
If, for example, one takes into account the fact that this war has caused major disruptions in the supply chain and in the prices of basic foods, one understands why, for example, what is happening in Ukraine is very important for Africa, for countries that are also being tested by the effects of the climate crisis.
It is also extremely important that all the countries participating in the Summit reaffirmed their commitment to the United Nations Charter, to the need to resolve disputes by invoking international law and the inalienable right of every country to its territorial sovereignty, and to the condemnation of changing borders in any way, of the power of the strongest to the detriment of the weakest. I think that this is a very important, I would say, affirmation of these basic principles, which can ultimately be the only road map for a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.
And of course, a just and sustainable peace can in no way, as I said in my intervention, mean practically Ukraine’s capitulation. That is why Greece, like all other European countries, continue to support Ukraine, so that it can at some point come to the negotiating table from a position of confidence and not from a position of weakness.
Georgia Skitzi (ERT): And if I may, you had the opportunity to make some contacts in the margins of the summit. And I wanted to ask you what do you expect tomorrow from the dinner of EU leaders in Brussels and whether you believe that they will come to an agreement as regards the persons who will lead these important European institutions, something we are awaiting.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis: Indeed, I had the opportunity, on the margins of this important summit, to meet with several of my counterparts. As you know, together with the Polish Prime Minister, we have acted as informal negotiators on behalf of the European People’s Party in order to arrive at the distribution of important positions of responsibility. Yes, I am optimistic that tomorrow evening we will be able, at the informal dinner of EU leaders, to come up with names that are mutually acceptable, starting obviously with the nomination of Mrs von der Leyen to continue as President of the European Commission for the next five years.
