Mitsotakis tells Merkel that ‘West’s calm often encourages Turkey’s arbitrary action’

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in welcoming visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke of a "very different Greece" than the country she dealt with over the last decade.

Noting that he is the eighth prime minister during her 16 years in power with whom the chancellor has held talks, the PM offered a summary of bilateral and EU-Greek relations in that period.

Mitsotakis noted that Greece is much different than it was in the last deficit as it has transcended the fiscal crisis and has marked growth and a lower rate of unemployment.

Regarding economic ties, he said there has been a 20 percent rise in exports to Germany despite the pandemic, and that the number of German tourists visiting Greece doubled compared to the summer of 2020.

Praise for Merkel

The PM declared that the chancellor has been a voice of logic and though sometimes measures imposed on Greece were unjust, she took decisive decisions at critical moments. He said that in 2015 she rejected Greece's ostracism from the EU and that she finally adopted a courageous stance on the Union's recovery fund.

EU soft on Turkish provocations

He also noted the asymmetric attacks of Turkey on Greece in the Evros border region and the Aegean, and that the EU at some point will have to proceed with sanctions if necessary.

In indirect criticism of Berlin's soft stance on Ankara's provocations, he decried the West's calm in the face of Turkish provocations, noting that the EU's stance fuels even more Turkey's provocations.
He underlined that Greece does not accept Ankara's threats or it disputing of Greece's sovereign rights.

On the economic front, the PM cited as a "useful legacy" Merkel's statement that austerity cannot...