In the current geopolitical landscape, maybe 2% is not enough, emphasized the Prime Minister of Greece in an interview with CNN – What he said about Ukraine that joins the Alliance, because of the great right, tourism and work six days.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis was clearly in favor of European strategic independence in an interview with CNN.
“We also have to spend more as Europe. I am a strong supporter of European strategic independence. I believe it works. It is an approach that complements NATO in particular. If all the European countries spend more on defense, NATO will also be stronger,” the Greek prime minister stressed, and emphasized that “we must spend at least 2%, and maybe not 2% is enough in this changing landscape of geopolitics” .
He also referred to the proposal he made with his counterpart in Poland to create a European “iron dome”, a European air defense shield.
Referring to the NATO summit, Mr Mitsotakis spoke of Ukraine’s “irreversible” commitment to join the Alliance, pointing out that “all NATO countries have done a lot to support Ukraine, bilaterally and within the Alliance”.
Regarding the rise of the extreme right, Kyriakos Mitsotakis described the fears expressed as “exaggerated to some extent”. As he explained, “At least the extreme right did not rise significantly in the European elections. But we have to face the reality and I am always very careful when I refer to these parties, because the grievances that our citizens express by voting for these parties are real. They are very concerned about issues such as cost of living, immigration. But the answers offered by these populist parties are too simple and usually impossible to achieve. It is up to us, the traditional parties, to give credible answers and real political solutions to real grievances.”
Regarding tourism, he emphasized that “we are attracting significant investments in our tourism infrastructure, our goal is always to upgrade our product and ensure that all the investments implemented meet the high standards of sustainability we expect them from our tourism industry”. Also that it is our duty to ensure that “our tourism industry is protected from climate change. And one of our main priorities is to extend the tourist season so that not all tourists come to our islands in July and August. And that happens more or less.”
Finally, he clarified what was written about six-day work in Greece and emphasized: “Greece has a five-day work week and there is no change to that. We take the protection of labor rights very seriously. That is why we have taken tough measures against employers who break the law in their recruitment, we impose very heavy fines. We want to make sure our employees are fully protected. We have, I believe, one of the most sophisticated and modern worker protection legislation in Europe.”