Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, his counterparts from Finland Petteri Orpo, Italy Giorgia Meloni and Sweden Ulf Kristersson and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, held a press conference after the completion of the North-South Summit in Lapland, Finland.
Below are the Prime Minister’s introductory statement and his answers to journalists’ questions:
Thank you so much, Petteri, for bringing us all together here in Lapland and for the opportunity to “meet” Santa Claus in person. I think this is a very, very important initiative bringing together two Southern countries, two Northern countries, and the High Representative to better understand the security challenges that we each face in our respective regions.
It was very instructive for us to understand the particular issues that Finland is facing in terms of managing a 1,300-kilometer border with Russia. But it was also an opportunity for us, me and Giorgia, to present the specific security and migration challenges that we face in the eastern and in the central Mediterranean.
I think there are some common threads that emerge out of this discussion. The first is that border protection is an integral part of our migration strategy and a common priority, regardless of whether you have a land or a sea border, regardless of whether you’re in the north, in the south. And better managing this challenge should be a common European endeavour.
And of course, this is a topic that we have discussed at the European Council, and I would like to reiterate here from Lapland the necessity to provide additional funding at the European level not just for border management, but also for the physical constructions that make it more effective for us to manage our borders.
On the question of security, I think Petteri was right. There is a common understanding that we need to do more and that we need to be smarter in terms of how we allocate our funds to defence, whether it is at the national level or whether it is at the European level. I personally have been advocating for more flexibility within the new fiscal rules in terms of how we treat defence spending. I think this will be an important incentive for all of us to spend more on defence.
But of course, as Petteri said, we need to explore all means in terms of how we will collectively foster our European defence. This is a topic that we will have at the European Council. We will have an extraordinary meeting in February, where we will be open about the challenges that we face and about the need to think out of the box in a changing security environment and at a time when we still need to convince our transatlantic partner that we take our own security seriously, because we need our transatlantic partner within the context of NATO.
So thank you again, Petteri, for hosting us. I do want to point out that these informal meetings are always particularly constructive. And thank you for giving us the opportunity not just to visit this beautiful part of your country, but to better understand the security concerns of the Nordic countries.
On the prospect of strengthening European defence and decision-making at European level in the coming period, the Prime Minister noted:
Four countries represented here are now members of NATO and the European Union. It’s extremely encouraging for the Αlliance that as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we ended up adding two countries with significant defence capabilities to the NATO Αlliance.
But I would echo what my colleagues said, we need to take care of our own security priorities. That is actually the best way to continue to strengthen the transatlantic relationship. Fair burden sharing should be at the centre of every alliance.
As was pointed out, it is clear that we need to spend more on defence, but we also need to be smarter in terms of how we allocate these funds, which means better interoperability, common standards, more cooperation within the European defence industry, which, as we know, is currently quite fragmented.
I was quite happy that we have made progress in terms of thinking outside the box, not just in terms of how we will increase our own national contributions, how we spend more on defence, but also what we can do at the European level. Greece is a country that spends more than 3% of its GDP on defence. We have done so for many, many years. We never actually benefited from the peace dividend after the collapse of the Berlin Wall.
But now we’re in a different security environment. We all need to step up. The final point that I would have, especially addressing our Nordic friends, is that this division between the north and the south, which I think Giorgia also referred to, is essentially a legacy of the previous decade when we saw Europe divided along lines which, frankly, no longer exist.
Now, it’s the Southern economies that are growing faster, that are demonstrating a lot of fiscal discipline. When we ask about more fiscal space to spend on defence, we actually mean it. These are real investments which will strengthen our collective security.
On reports that US President-elect Donald Trump will call for the target for defence spending by NATO countries to be increased to 5% of GDP (from 2%), Kyriakos Mitsotakis stated:
If I may add, one thing we know is that the 2% number is probably history. It will be more than 2%, but let’s not put a figure on it because we all have also our national considerations, and we should not forget that we operate within a European fiscal framework. Whatever we do resonates with our position as members of the Eurozone. So, we know we will need to spend more than 2%, but we’ll become very clear, as Ulf said, once we interact with the new president, what is the figure that we will agree on within NATO.
In response to a question on how leaders perceive Russia’s threats against Europe, the Prime Minister said:
Ι can’t add much to what Giorgia said. Looking at security in the broadest possible context, we need to recognise that what we’re faced with right now in Europe is a new form of hybrid warfare that we need to address. It is disinformation and disinformation campaigns that try to influence our democratic process.
For all of these challenges, we need a coherent response that goes beyond just spending more on defence and continuing to support Ukraine. It’s bolstering our own democracies, fighting illegal migration, because illegal migration has also been instrumentalized by other powers. Look, for example, what’s happening on the border of Poland with Belarus.
These are real security challenges which need to be addressed. If some of us, maybe a few years ago, believe that we were still in a world that was shaped after the collapse of the Berlin Wall, I think, have recognised that we live in a completely different geopolitical reality and that Europe needs to grow up geopolitically and really achieve its own strategic autonomy in terms of its ability to defend itself across all fronts.
