Debate: This is Europe - Debate with the Prime Minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis
Date: TUESDAY, 5 JULY 2022
Speaker: Kyriakos Mitsotakis
Language: EN

First of all, thank you, Mr Weber, for making the observation – which I think is fair – that Greece is indeed ‘back’, because the country today objectively bears no resemblance to the country that we took over when the Greek people placed their confidence in us in July 2019. I think the progress that we have made is rather objective in terms of the performance of our economy and in terms of the intensity of the reforms that we have implemented.  I would like to very much take note of what you said regarding the importance of structuring our democratic debate, be that at the European Parliament or within our national governments, based on true facts rather than rumours or fake news, because it is impossible to have a proper debate if we continue to question the basic facts.  Let me take note of a point raised by Mr Papadimoulis, when he falsely claimed that Greece has been the leader in the European Union in terms of COVID deaths per million people. This is a lie, Mr Papadimoulis. It is plain false, and it is unacceptable that you show up in this House and replicate this type of misinformation. So let us at least get our facts straight when it comes to the issues pertaining to the public debate. I think it is very important to make sure that we can have a public discourse based on facts that are mutually acceptable.  Let me switch to Greek to quickly respond to Mr Androulakis. I will switch back to English for the rest of my answers. Κύριε Ανδρουλάκη, άκουσα με προσοχή τις παρατηρήσεις σας σχετικά με το Ταμείο Ανάκαμψης. Μπορώ να σας διαβεβαιώσω, όπως έχετε ήδη διαπιστώσει, ότι οι προτάσεις μας στο Ταμείο Ανάκαμψης, οι οποίες έχουν εγκριθεί από την Ευρωπαϊκή Επιτροπή, έχουν ένα πολύ έντονο κοινωνικό πρόσημο. Ενδεικτικά, να αναφέρω τα σημαντικά κονδύλια τα οποία κατευθύνουμε σε δράσεις, όπως η κατάρτιση των ανέργων, η στήριξη των μικρομεσαίων επιχειρήσεων προκειμένου να μπορέσουν να βελτιώσουν τις ψηφιακές τους δεξιότητες, ή προγράμματα οριζόντιας εξοικονόμησης ενέργειας, όπως το πρόγραμμα «Εξοικονομώ», από το οποίο ωφελούνται όλα τα ελληνικά νοικοκυριά, αλλά κυρίως νοικοκυριά τα οποία είναι μη προνομιούχα, καθώς αυτά έχουν προνομιακή πρόσβαση σε αυτό το πρόγραμμα.  Ως προς το ζήτημα το οποίο θέσατε σχετικά με το εμπάργκο όπλων όσον αφορά την Τουρκία, θα πω μόνο το εξής: προφανώς, κάθε ευρωπαϊκή χώρα είναι ελεύθερη να κινείται στον τομέα των εξαγωγών όπλων όπως αυτή νομίζει, πλην, όμως, θα πρέπει να λάβουν πολύ σοβαρά υπόψη τους όλες οι ευρωπαϊκές χώρες την πραγματικότητα η οποία υπάρχει αυτή τη στιγμή στη νοτιοανατολική Μεσόγειο. Η αλήθεια είναι ότι σήμερα μια χώρα η οποία φιλοδοξεί να γίνει μέλος της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης, η Τουρκία, ανοιχτά αμφισβητεί την κυριαρχία μιας άλλης χώρας, η οποία τυχαίνει να είναι μέλος της ευρωπαϊκής οικογένειας. Αυτό είναι κάτι το οποίο οι ευρωπαϊκές χώρες πρέπει να το λάβουν σοβαρά υπόψη τους στις αποφάσεις τις οποίες λαμβάνουν σχετικά με τις επιλογές τους για τις πωλήσεις οπλικών συστημάτων σε τρίτες χώρες. Let me switch back to English to respond to some of the points made by Mr Azmani. I took note, Mr Azmani, of your observations regarding press freedom in Greece. I can assure you Greece is a country where everyone can write and publish anything about anyone without any censorship or any control by the government.  Just take a look – and I have printed them here – these are just two indicative front pages from today’s newspapers which accuse me of being a liar, a sycophant. These are daily front pages from at least four daily newspapers in Greece. The same media freedom applies to TV, to radio and, of course, the Internet, where everyone is free to write anything about anyone. I would urge you to take some of these rankings which are published by non—governmental organisations with a grain of salt. Does one really believe in this House that countries such as Chad in Africa have more media freedom than Greece? Because this is exactly what was presented in the rankings, which you claim. So when you get advice from your Renew colleagues, I suggest you dig a little bit deeper in terms of the reality of the Greek public discourse. We are a very dynamic and vibrant democracy, and I can assure you that freedom of the press is an accepted reality in Greece for many decades now. The Commission is going to publish its recommendations regarding rule of law, we expect them and we will look very carefully at what the Commission has to say. At the end of the day, I think we can trust the Commission to properly assess the state of the rule of law in all European countries.  Ms Strik, thank you for your comments. I think you’ve raised some valid points, first of all regarding the lack of solidarity offered to Greece, but also to other countries which are on the external borders of the European Union. When it comes to the migration issue, I would however like to point out that it is the right of every European Member State to protect its borders with full respect for fundamental rights. This is exactly what Greece has been doing for the past three years, and we have been successful in protecting our borders and we have been successful in terms of breaking down the smuggler networks that have really exploited the desperation of weak and traumatised people by encouraging them to embark on a very dangerous journey. When you speak about pushbacks, I would urge you to think more in terms of ‘push—forwards’ rather than pushbacks.  We have a statement between the European Union and Turkey, which requests Turkey to cooperate in terms of managing migration flows across the Aegean. When a sailing boat leaves a Turkish marina with 100 or 200 people on board, I think we need to be naive to believe that this is happening without the knowledge of the Turkish authorities.  We know very well that Turkey, back in March 2020, weaponised the migration issue and tried to push tens of thousands of desperate people across the Greek border – exactly the same practice that Lukashenko did in Ukraine. There was nothing different. The playbook was written already by Turkey back in March 2020. So please, when you look at these issues, which are sensitive issues, let us not repeat the Turkish propaganda that they have no role in what is happening and that it is the Greeks who are behaving inhumanely in terms of not protecting fundamental rights.  We have an independent anti-corruption agency which is looking at allegations. Some of the allegations, yes, are concerning and they need to be further explored. Having said that, I would like to point out that the reception facilities – because you made the point of the reception facilities today – bear no comparison to the reception facilities under the previous, Leftist government. Take a look at the islands now. Go visit Samos or Chios and you will find state of the art reception facilities that were funded by the European Union which have no comparison to the disgrace of Moria, which was a creation of the previous Leftist and very ‘sensitive’ – quote unquote – government when it came to human rights issues. This reality no longer exists.  One last point in terms of integration. I think you will find this interesting. Yesterday, I welcomed to my office a 19—year—old Iranian boy. His name is Kourosh. Kourosh made it to Lesvos in 2019. He entered a Greek school. He learned Greek. He gave his entrance exams to a Greek university. He will now be admitted to the best school in Greece when it comes to electrical engineering, having aced his national entrance exams. This is how this government looks at the integration process of people who have reached European shores and have a right to be integrated into European society. Now, when it comes to the point raised by Mr Beck, very quickly, I assure you that when it comes to our purchases of weapon systems, all the important weapon systems that we have purchased over the past three years have been European – and I do believe that we need to purchase more European systems when we have that option, and I believe we need more integration of our defence industry in order to make it more competitive.  When it comes to the issues raised by Mr Fragkos regarding the brain drain, I can assure you that, for the first time, many young Greeks who left the country over the past decade in search of a better job are seriously contemplating returning to the country, for two reasons – because, for the first time, we offer many good—paying jobs and because they have an overall confidence that this country is moving in the right direction. We still have a lot of work to do to reverse the brain drain problem, but I think we have made some important first steps.  Finally, when it comes to the points raised by Mr Papadimoulis, who was very, very eager to defend the previous government – I understand his point but I think it is improper, sometimes, Madam President to bring issues pertaining to domestic politics to this House – I would only point out one reality, which is, Mr Papadimoulis, that seven years ago there was a referendum which was led by your government, which pushed Greece to the precipice of us exiting the eurozone. It was only because you reversed the decision of the Greek people and made the now—famous ‘kolotumba’, which is a somersault, a U-turn, that you signed the third programme and essentially condemned Greece to four unnecessary years of austerity. This is one of the main reasons you were voted out of power and why we came into power in order to make sure that we move Greece back to a proper growth track.  Finally, when it comes, again, to issues regarding the rule of law, we have an opportunity, Madam Speaker – and I will end here – to have a discussion in the Greek Parliament tomorrow regarding these issues. What is a fact today when it comes to independent justice and two of the closest collaborators of Mr Tsipras is that the Minister in charge of anti-corruption has been sent to the highest court of the country accused of tampering with justice and intervening in justice, and a second Minister in the Tsipras government has also been sent to the highest court because he interfered in a public tender regarding broadcasting rights.  So this is a track record of your government. You have two of your Ministers who will be held accountable to justice for clear interventions when it comes to the rule of law. So let the facts speak rather than using this Chamber to promote fake news. Thank you again, Madam President, for giving me the opportunity to address the European Parliament.