The event was titled ‘Greece & Europe: A new chapter with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis & Friedrich Merz’, the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party.

We “must avoid the mistakes of the past, when we had a lot of austerity and draconian fiscal measures, resulting in a new cycle of recession and the inability to achieve our fiscal goals,” noted Mitsotakis.

Our “fiscal discipline is non-negotiable – through a pro-development policy – and it is my commitment to Greeks to not relive what happened in 2010 with the financial crisis”, he pointed out.

Speaking about migration, Mitsotakis noted that Greece can now manage the migration flows into Greece and also carry out asylum-granting procedures at the same time.”

If Germany is “a ‘great attractor’ for migrants then managing the guarding of the European Union’s external borders will become a lot more difficult,” he underlined, adding that “we need more aid, more money, better cooperation with third countries and a more effective returns policy.”

But he did say that he feels more optimistic about the issue of migration, “as there is now a greater understanding about it at the European Council.”

Concerning Greek-Turkish relations, Mitsotakis said that the two countries have “agreed on a roadmap for the normalization of our bilateral relations, in order to promote the positive agenda, and not allow the difficulties we have to result in a military confrontation.”

“We convinced Türkiye that its previous revisionist attitude towards Greece was extremely counterproductive, while in recent months our relations have been characterized by a détente,” he noted.

It is obvious, he underlined, that “I completely disagree with Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s comments on Hamas, but this is no reason not to welcome him to Greece in less than a month, when we will discuss our bilateral relations,” Mitsotakis highlighted.

Both Merz and KAS President Norbert Lammert pointed out that Greece today is an entirely different country, and they congratulated the Greek Premier for the political and economical progress observed in the country in recent years.

They also noted that Greece is an extremely interesting investments destination and a strong pillar within the European Union.

Referring to Greek-Turkish relations, Merz commended the Greek government on choosing to keep communication channels with Türkiye open, and also called on Turkish President Erdogan to make every possible effort to help prevent the escalation of tensions in the Middle East.