In an interview on REAL FM, with Nikos Chatzinikolaou, ahead of the European Council Meeting, Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs Miltiadis Varvitsiotis sent a message that Europe needs to maintain its credibility and impose on Turkey the decisions made at the previous meeting of the European Council.
More specifically, Mr. Varvitsiotis noted that “Greece’s goal is for a spirit of dialogue to prevail in Greek-Turkish relations and in Turkey’s behaviour.” He pointed out, however, that the EU called upon Turkey in October to choose between a relationship of cooperation or opposition, with our neighbour, through its actions, opting for the latter and any consequences it entails.
If the EU wants to maintain its integrity, the Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs stressed, it must follow through on the decisions of the previous European Council meeting. He also highlighted that there is significant disagreement among the European partners on the immediate imposition of sanctions on Turkey, adding that a mechanism for automatic imposition of sanctions would be a step in the right direction.
With regard to the supposed goodwill moves made recently by Turkey, he noted that they are mere pretext and that “most of the member states understand this.”
Commenting on the disagreements within the EU on unfreezing the Recovery Fund – in the negotiations on which he played a decisive role at Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ side – the Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs predicted that the Hungarian and Polish objections would be withdrawn by the end of the year so that the European budget can start in its normal form. However, Mr. Varvitsiotis concluded that the disagreements within the EU on matters such as the Recovery Fund, Greek-Turkish issues, Brexit and Asylum/Migration are intensifying the German Presidency’s concern over the need for agreements to be reached quickly so that “in the coming weeks we can see strong pressure towards the settlement of pending issues that have started to weigh Europe down.”
December 2, 2020