Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met today at Maximos Mansion with the European Commissioner for Defence and Space Andrius Kubilius.
During the meeting, they discussed issues related to Mr. Kubilius’s portfolio, particularly the Roadmap for Strengthening the EU’s Defence Readiness 2030 and the need to strengthen and accelerate the European defence industry and production.
The Prime Minister briefed Mr. Kubilius on Greece’s program to strengthen and shield the Armed Forces and on the emphasis placed on innovation.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis reiterated the need for Article 42, paragraph 7 (TEU) to take on an operational dimension. He pointed out that European countries that recently provided defensive support to Cyprus had, in practice, moved in this direction, on an ad hoc basis and without invoking the Article.
The Prime Minister also stressed the need for joint European funding for programs of common European interest, such as a European air defense shield, a proposal he had put forward in 2024 together with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
At the beginning of their meeting, the Prime Minister and the Commissioner had the following dialogue:
Kyriakos Mitsotakis: So good to see you in Athens once more, Commissioner. I think you come at a very interesting time when discussions regarding Europe’s strategic autonomy and the strengthening of our defence capabilities seems to be the number one priority of the European Council. You know that Greece has contributed significantly to this discussion.
We put our money where our mouth is when it comes to defence spending, but we have also been at the forefront of encouraging Europe to work more collaboratively in terms of defence procurement, focusing on new defence capabilities. And at a time when some of the traditional constants of the post-World War II order seem to be challenged, to put enough faith in our own European capabilities, which I always think is very important.
We are big believers in talking publicly about Article 42, Paragraph 7 of the European treaties. We demonstrated our commitment to Cyprus when our neighbour faced an attack by Hezbollah by sending ships and aeroplanes. And we are very much looking forward towards operationalizing this article in terms of stronger defence commitment by European member states, should another need arise to support a member state under attack.
And of course, when it comes to space, we have taken our first steps. We had a launch a couple of days ago for 4 new micro, 2 nano satellites launched. We are beginning to also establish our own footprint when it comes to space, and of course for areas such as civil protection, this is an imperative priority.
So let me stop here and welcome you again once more. And I think this discussion is particularly important also in light of the new MFF. I’m a big believer that for certain areas that we consider to be absolute priorities, we should consider joint European borrowing to support projects of common interest.
And I do believe that defence is the quintessential European public good and that it also needs to be supported on top of what we do at the national level by some sort of joint European borrowing.
Andrius Kubilius: Prime Minister, first of all, thanks a lot for possibility to meet. Big pleasure and big honour. Second, I can subscribe all what you have said from the very beginning, and then my short introduction, but maybe I will try to stress several things which we consider as very important.
First of all, really, we are happy to see Greece as the leader in development of European defence. With everything what you are doing with, you know, “Achilles Shield”, with 12 years plan for €26 billion. So it’s really great. I’m always saying to other countries, “look to Greece”, you know, “follow what they are doing”, because definitely, challenges are quite big, both for development of our capabilities, but also for development of our industry.
We need to remind ourselves always that at the moment, at least what we see from public figures, Russia is still out-producing us with their war economy, and the numbers are quite different. So that’s why, really, we need to speed up.
Second, definitely, Greece is a really very inspiring example in development of your space capabilities. Congratulations with recent launch and with your participation in very important European project, GOVSATCOM, and how you are using RRF money. I am now trying to, again, tell everybody, learn from Greece how to use the RRF money, and follow that good example.
And definitely, next point is I agree with you absolutely, and I was speaking also that Article 42(7) is very important for us as some kind of what they call the first step in what they try to structurally look into institutional defence readiness. That we have material defence readiness when we need to produce and have weapons and more money for defence, but then the question is about institutional defence readiness, and this Article 42(7), I think, really is crucial.
I did my homework, small homework, I see really that we have quite a lot of very good instruments. First of all, of course, on civilian side, because if the crisis of war is coming, then civilian assistance is also very important. On military side, we need to look how we can coordinate our efforts. But I hope that really we shall be able to come out with some kind of what I would call handbook, really, in assistance to all institutions to understand what is needed to be done.
And the last point, definitely the Greek presidency is coming. Okay. Well, time, it can look like..
Kyriakos Mitsotakis: Right after the Lithuanian term.
Andrius Kubilius: Exactly. But definitely we see in defence, really, and space very important agenda. We hope that some things will be finished before that. But nevertheless, both on defence simplification, on Space Act, on, of course, most important, in the next MFF with nice increase of defence and space spending, which we hope will be supported by the governments, but that will very much depend on Greece’s presidency if things will not be finished before then.
So, again, thanks a lot for this meeting, and I appreciate very much what you are doing. Thank you.
