Latvian president urges more EU defense spending

Athens and Riga agree that European defense spending should be exempt from fiscal rules, Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics told Kathimerini in an interview ahead of his two-day visit to Athens on Wednesday, where he met with political and state officials. Rinkevics furthermore said that regardless of who wins the upcoming presidential elections in the United States, Europe will need "to be more serious about its own defense and security."

You are visiting Athens for the first time as the president of Latvia. How close are Greece and Latvia regarding ongoing international issues? Also, I noticed that you met some people from the Latvian community living in Greece. Is the community here big?

It was a bit strange to realize that the last state visit of a Latvian president was in 2002. The last Greek presidential visit to Latvia was only two years ago,...