The Informal Summit, which is taking place in Brussels, occurs at a time when we are facing tectonic geopolitical changes.
I have spoken many times about the need for Europe to gain greater autonomy in the management of issues relating to common European defence.
In fact, today I had the opportunity to publish an article in a major European newspaper, where I present once again the Greek proposals on how we can spend more and in a better manner on our common defence.
In particular, I would like to stress once again the need for greater flexibility in the budgetary rules, so that countries that spend more than 2% of their GDP on defence expenditure are given an incentive not to be “punished” under the existing legislation on expenditure ceilings.
I would point out, however, that apart from the need to have more flexibility at national level, it is also absolutely necessary to set up a common European fund for defence projects, which are essentially European priorities.
In particular, I propose the creation of a €100 billion fund, along the lines of the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility, which could finance common European actions, such as, for example, a European air-defence shield.
I believe that the conditions are now ripe for us to move from words to deeds. I do not expect any concrete conclusions today, but I believe that we will have an opportunity to have a frank exchange of views, taking into account what is happening on the other side of the Atlantic.
In any case, conditions have matured, Europe must assume its responsibilities, come of age geopolitically and take the issues of European defence very seriously.
Journalist: Mr. Prime Minister, you called a meeting yesterday at Maximos Mansion. I would like to ask you if you are concerned about the seismic activity in Santorini.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis: Look, we have to deal with a very intense geological phenomenon. I want to ask our islanders, first and foremost, to be calm, to listen to the instructions of the Civil Protection.
And I have also asked the responsible Ministry, within the next few days, to make a comprehensive presentation, a scientific presentation of the geological data, so that everyone knows the nature of the phenomenon that we have to manage.