Georgios Gerapetritis

Greek Foreign Minister Georgios Gerapetritis, after meeting with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry in Athens on Monday, stated that the two countries have "a strategic relationship that shall not be determined by external factors."

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken hailed Greece as a "principled proponent of peace and prosperity" in a special message issued as Greeks celebrated the 203rd anniversary of independence from Ottoman rule on Monday.

"On Europe's southeastern frontier, bilateral partner and NATO ally Greece has served as a principled proponent of peace and prosperity," Blinken's message said.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis stated, "Greece-US bilateral relations are at their best," during his meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Hania, Crete on Saturday. 

Egypt is a country with which Greece "maintains traditional ties, a country that is Greece's strategic partner, and with which we have developed excellent bilateral relations in recent years," Greek Foreign Minister Georgios Gerapetritis said on Friday, after concluding his meetings in El Alamein with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry.

Nine individuals including former intelligence chiefs have been invited to closed-door hearings in Parliament on the operation of the National Intelligence Service (EYP) and eavesdropping on PASOK-KINAL leader Nikos Androulakis and others that will take place on Thursday.