Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' speech before the US Congress was enthusiastically received and was rightly described as historic by politicians, analysts, journalists and citizens in Greece and the US.
I feel compelled to share my own experience, as I was present in both the Oval Office the day before and in the US Congress plenary chamber during the delivery of a speech that inspired hope in the international audience for enlightened political leadership so much needed today in our Western world.
Hearing the relevance of the values of democracy, freedom, justice, mutual respect, and empathy in handling current challenges, gave me and all the other members of the Greek government a sense of national pride. These are values that were conceived as ideas in Greek antiquity, transformed into action in the founding of the modern US state, and eventually formed the value system of the entire Western world, within which humanith progressed and prospered in politics, science, the arts, and culture. Values that appear to be under threat in our time, in the face of numerous and tough challenges and crises - political-military, environmental, and epidemiological ones - and to which the world's political leadership needs to provide new impetus and vitality.
My assessment is derived from precisely the same feelings of pride and the same glow of hope that I saw reflected in the facial expressions, the nods of approval and the reactions of the US Representatives and Senators. The spontaneous and repeated bursts of applause the Greek Prime Minister received are no coincidence.
They are the recognition of the Prime Minister of a small European country, a traditional friend and ally of the United States, but without the special weight major European powers such as France, Germany and the United Kingdom carry; a country beloved until yesterday for the natural beauty of its landscape, for its history, its culture and for the hospitality of its people, which has suddenly emerged, with ambition, as a regional power at international level. The Greek Prime Minister spoke to the US audience as a modern leader capable of instilling intellectual inspiration and providing practical solutions to complicated issues that concern the global community.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis spoke in their language (and I don't simply mean fluent English), he spoke to the soul of Americans, with the verve befitting the Prime Minister of a great country. And this is a priceless victory for Greece, marking a new chapter not only for our relations with the United States but also for Greece’s global image.
For me personally, Greece’s alignment with the US in the effort to strengthen the Western world’s embattled value system is the most important aspect of the current momentum in the relations between the two countries. This aspect was clearly highlighted during the Greek Prime Minister's presence and speech before the US Congress. It also represents a success of the current government, which carries both a symbolic and a tangible significance and which we need to preserve and strengthen collectively.
May 24, 2022