G. GERAPETRITIS: Thank you so much Margus. Ιt’s wonderful to be here, in beautiful Tallinn. Thank you for your warm welcome and hospitality.
Over the years, our cooperation has been deepening, both in the European Union and within NATO. I see Margus very often at the Foreign Affairs Councils of the European Union, and we spend a lot of time together, as we are like-minded on many issues.
In spite of the disparity of our geography, the challenges we face are common. Estonia is located at the Eastern flank of NATO and Greece at the Southeastern. But we do share a lot of commonalities. First of all, we are coastal states, and that makes things often more complicated. We feel the challenges more acutely, and sometimes the threats. That is the reason why we both spend more than 3% of our GDP on defense. We share the view of European strategic autonomy. And we both welcome the strengthening of the European defense mechanisms in order to develop the European defense industry. We maintain trade, defense, strategic and cultural ties and view it as important to further develop them.
I believe - in spite of our geographic disparity - that the Baltic states and the Balkans should deepen their relations. It is important to develop a common attitude when it comes to issues of foreign and security policy, because the challenges are the same. We often encounter similar forms of aggression. On the other hand, global problems are becoming all the more complicated. And we also saw that during the General Assembly of the United Nations last week. I was there and participated in the extraordinary meeting of the Security Council, convened especially for the violations of Estonia’s airspace. We need to stick together when it comes to that type of aggression.
Having had the experience of thousands of violations of Greek airspace, which we have raised in all fora, including the European Union and the United Nations, we fully share Estonia’s concern, especially at times of aggression such as nowadays. And we join our voice with Estonia, Poland and Romania in condemning violations of national territory in all type of possible terms.
It is important that we have a strategy regarding maritime security. As you probably know, Greece has set maritime security as a priority during its term at the Security Council of the United Nations, and we have taken a lot of initiatives concerning maritime security. In this respect, I must reiterate in the strongest possible terms, our firm commitment to combating a phenomenon, such as the Russian shadow fleet. Not only because it reflects the vehicle of aggression of Russia against Ukraine and against the world, but also because that poses a huge threat for maritime security. We discussed extensively with my colleague how to coordinate activities in order to have a meaningful and effective overview of the shadow fleet situation.
We need to end the wars and conflicts both in Ukraine and in the Middle East. It is important to have peace, because this is required for global security. It is important to develop our synergies to this effect. It is also important that we coordinate our actions in international fora.
Regarding the promotion of interconnectivity, Greece has added the “fourth sea” to the Three Seas Initiative. Essentially, it is a single space, it is a European space, that we need to defend and promote.
Of course, we need to develop all types of cooperation concerning investments, trade and the economy. We have a series of bilateral agreements in place, the most important of which are on energy, cyber security and e-government. Estonia is among the leading countries when it comes to any sort of advanced technologies and AI that we are trying to develop, and we would welcome an exchange of know-how.
I think, my dear friend, Margus, that the transformation of the European Union into a geopolitical union requires closest ties, especially between countries which have a shared understanding concerning the root problems of what is currently happening in Europe. We need to intensify our efforts in order to have a more prosperous European future. We recognize at this moment the need for a much larger, stronger, and united Europe based on cohesion, competitiveness, and strategic autonomy.
This is the signal of my visit. We work together, the two Foreign Ministers and the two states, for a more autonomous and stronger Europe.
Thank you.
JOURNALIST: I would like to ask what is your message to the revisionist forces in the region.
G. GERAPETRITIS: We are totally against any type of revisionism in Europe and globally. The truth is that in the last few years, we have seen a different type of revisionism alongside with traditional aggression, as the aggression coming from Russia against Ukraine and many other states. We have seen new forms of aggression, such as hybrid threats coming from cyber security concerns. We have seen migration being instrumentalised in order to produce weaponry for revisionist purposes. We have one single voice in this respect, and this is that revisionism in any possible form will not be accepted by the Europeans and especially by like-minded countries. This is why we need to coordinate both within the European Union as well as within NATO. It is essential that we have a transatlantic cooperation in this respect, because security concerns are not a regional issue. What we have encountered, I think, is the abolishment of any sort of a very spotted and regional conflict. We can see now that all conflicts do have a very wide footprint, I would say a global footprint. For us, Ukraine is not far away. For Estonia, the Middle East is not far away, because essentially what is at stake is the same issue. It is the international security architecture as built after World War II and this is why we stay aligned. We would join our forces in order to develop a wall of protection against neo-revisionism tensions.
JOURNALIST: You mentioned practical steps to combat the shadow fleet. What are these and what could Greece specifically do about it?
G. GERAPETRITIS: We have discussed extensively with my homologue on this issue as well as on the sanction packages against Russia. What we have said is that we will set a standard mechanism of exchanging information about those issues. It's important that we receive some tangible evidence about the shadow fleet. The truth is that Estonia is very critically geographically located in this respect. It's important that we have a flow of information that will allow us, if there are any incidents involving ships of Greek interest, to intervene effectively. At the moment, we cannot say that we have any type of this evidence, but it's important that we coordinate in this respect. We do realize that this type of practice with the shadow fleet is not only a threat for maritime security, not only a blatant violation of international law and an instrumentalization of the shipping in order to produce aggressive purposes. It is also an anti-competitive practice. They do not carry the security guarantees required by maritime regulations. They are against any sort of maritime security. And I reiterated our full commitment to do this in cooperation with the Estonian authorities and with the EU.
October 8, 2025