Top
  • 11-01-2021 17:14

EU/Presidency: Greek prime minister calls for EU recovery funds to be made available ASAP


Lisbon, Jan. 11, 2021 (Lusa) – The Prime Minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, on Monday in Lisbon called for European funds to be made available "as soon as possible" and stressed the convergence with Portugal despite "ideological" differences.

During a 24-hour visit to Lisbon, which culminated in a meeting with his counterpart António Costa, followed by a joint press conference, the Greek Prime Minister, also leader of the New Democracy (ND, conservative and with a majority in the Greek Parliament), called for European funds to be made available quickly, following the economic and social effects of the new coronavirus.

"We spent several nights awake in July, the Council lasted five days, but it was a great European success, a great step forward for the EU to guarantee states in need of loans and grants", he recalled, on a visit coinciding with the six-month presidency of the European Council that Portugal has held since 1 January.

"There are many resources, we have 32 billion euros, Portugal has a number that is not very different in its proportion, I do not want there to be any delay in paying these amounts", continued Mitsotakis.

"It has not been and will not be easy, there are some countries hit by the second, even third wave of the pandemic, and of course it creates economic difficulties, not all countries move at the same speed", he added.

The Hellenic Prime Minister made a point of highlighting the status of "natural allies", of "countries of the South which have gone through a very difficult economic crisis, with similar experiences", and assured that it would not be ideological differences that would compromise relations between Athens and Lisbon.

He stressed that "we may have different ideological starting points, but we are in the effort to reach a common path for reforms, and we are also in the effort to be effective (...) we value the truth and we have the same position in the face of populism".

The pandemic situation in the two countries was also one of the themes during the joint press conference, with Mitsotakis recalling that his government imposed a Christmas lockdown, but today it is beginning to open primary schools and crèches, and hoping that it can also open other levels of education.

The Greek Conservative leader marked the period between April and May as a significant setback for infections and reaching what was desired, noting that Greece will have "more vaccines" than it needs, and explained: "because we have managed to buy the vaccines at a European level and therefore it will certainly be a European success".

However, the head of the Greek government admitted that pandemic data "are always changing", and the need for a "constant readaptation" of strategies.

"The way ahead will not be at the same pace, and communities will not react at the same pace. At the beginning of January we decided to impose a more severe confinement to reserve ourselves from the consequences of the Christmas period. However, the data is encouraging, our experts meet every week and decide week after week", he pointed out.

PCR/AYLS // AYLS

Lusa