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More than 2% of Greece’s GDP needs to be spent on defense. Taking into account the current situation in Europe, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in an interview with CNN. As he pointed out, the country’s defense cannot rely solely on the United States.
According to AMPE, Mitsotakis was asked to comment on the concerns expressed by Joe Biden during an interview with journalist Julia Chateli. The Greek Prime Minister said that the US President attended the NATO summit, he behaved well, he had positions on key issues, and ultimately the US election is a matter for American citizens to decide.
As to whether he had spoken to him, he said he had, but in a meeting like this there was obviously not enough time to say much to the host, although the host was as affable as ever.
Mitsotakis said he was not present when the U.S. president confused Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Zelenskiy with Vladimir Putin and immediately corrected the mistake, but he understood the embarrassment such an incident could cause.
On Ukraine’s accession to NATO
Regarding Ukraine, the Prime Minister noted that the meeting made it clear that the country’s path to NATO membership is “irreversible,” as is the support provided by member states both bilaterally and within the Alliance framework.
He also noted that it is clear that the NATO alliance is stronger than ever with 32 member states and more member states pledging to spend 2% of GDP on defense. He noted that Greece has been allocating nearly 3% of its GDP for many years and it is good to see that other countries that did not fulfill their commitments are now doing so and are consistent.
“We can’t rely on the United States alone”
He also stressed that our defense cannot rely solely on the United States, and Europe must also increase spending and promote Europe’s strategic autonomy, as this will also help strengthen NATO.
He stressed that we actually need to spend defense more wisely, at least 2% of GDP should be spent on defense, but this may not be enough in the changing geopolitical landscape.
He added that after the war in Ukraine, European countries must realize that these expenditures are necessary and that in addition to national budgets, we must be able to talk about European defense, to which European funds will be allocated.
“We need to think seriously about the defence sector and discuss it at the European level,” the prime minister said, referring to a proposal he put forward with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk to create a common European air defence shield.
On the rise of European nationalists
Regarding the rise of nationalist parties in France and the difficulties they may bring to decision-making at the European level, Kyriakos Mitsotakis pointed out that centrist parties have a majority in the European Parliament. He believes that the choice of Ursula von der Leyen as the new head of the European Commission also confirms this, and emphasizes that concerns about the rise of far-right forces at the European level may be exaggerated.
He acknowledged that there were reasons why citizens turned to these parties, such as concerns about rising living costs or immigration, although the answers these parties offered were simplistic and that it was up to our own parties to provide convincing answers and real solutions to real problems.
Prime Minister stresses: “There is no over-tourism in Greece”
On tourism and whether Greece and the environment can “lift” the weight, the Prime Minister said that people who come to Greece have a great time and that is why they come back, but it is our responsibility to ensure that our tourism industry is protected in the fight against climate change and extending the tourist season is a priority so that we don’t have all those tourists crowding our islands in July and August.
He believes that Greece does not have an overtourism problem, perhaps only in July and August when more people gather on certain islands, and promises to strengthen infrastructure so that all tourists can enjoy their holidays. He stressed that we are raising a lot of investments that will be used to better develop our tourism industry.
‘Five-day jobs still exist’
In response to foreign media headlines about my country’s introduction of a “six-day work week”, the Prime Minister said that Greece does not have this problem, as the working week is five days, while employees can work four days, adjusting their work and rest schedules.
He clarified that in certain industries that are restricted and operate 24/7, six-day work must be decided by agreement with employees and with substantial additional wages.
The Greek Prime Minister assured that the working day in Greece is five days and this will not change, while protecting workers’ rights is a very serious matter, he concluded.
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