Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis welcomed the President of the French Republic Emmanuel Macron to Maximos Mansion.
At the beginning of their meeting, the Prime Minister and the French President had the following dialogue:
Kyriakos Mitsotakis: Mr. President, welcome again. And I would first of all like to thank you wholeheartedly on behalf of all the Greeks for the comments you made yesterday and for your speech at the Presidential Palace. I think it really touched the hearts of all my compatriots and demonstrated the enduring bonds of friendship between our two countries, that sometimes go beyond the agreements that we sign.
And your visit here has sent a very clear signal that what you said yesterday, “Greece – France, Alliance” (“Ελλάδα – Γαλλία, Συμμαχία”) is an axiom that we will all work towards and we will continue to strengthen our partnership. So, again, welcome.
Emmanuel Macron: Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister, dear Kyriakos. Thank you, all of you. I’m very happy and very proud to be here with my ministers and my delegation.
I think that, obviously, the friendship between our two countries and the bonds come from, I mean, over the centuries. But I think we are clearly transforming this relationship. And since 2021, given the challenges we are facing, we are building a new comprehensive partnership. This is indeed a global and strategic partnership. It’s defence and security, obviously, but we will sign as well on all different capacities. It’s about energy. It’s about the economy. It’s about culture. It’s about innovation. And this is why our partnership is so important, obviously, for your country, which is at the forefront of some of the key challenges for the Europeans, but for our two countries.
And I want to tell you that my words yesterday – I expressed a true commitment from France, and you can count on us. Thank you.
