Kyiv cannot be financed at expense of Europeans: Greek PM
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis opposed the financing of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to the detriment of the Europeans. Mitsotakis proposed to increase European resources for natural disasters by at least 2.5 billion euros to strengthen the European Solidarity Fund.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told the European Council meeting in Granada that it was not possible to transfer significant additional resources to Ukraine at the expense of support measures for European citizens facing natural disasters.
Answering journalists' questions after the end of the European Council meeting, Mitsotakis proposed to increase European resources for natural disasters by at least 2.5 billion euros to strengthen the European Solidarity Fund.
"We are asking for much more money for Ukraine and we are doing it well because we will continue to support Ukraine. But I argued to the Council of Europe that it is impossible to provide significant additional resources for Ukraine and at the same time support European citizens facing natural disasters with fewer resources, much less than we are providing for Ukraine," Mitsotakis said.
Mitsotakis also underlined in his speech that the solidarity fund is very small and exhausted.
He noted that Greece has maximized flexibility in the use of its available resources in the face of natural disasters, particularly in Thessaly, which was flooded after heavy rains in early September.
Stating that Greece supports in principle the proposal of the European Commission to provide more flexibility in budget adjustments, the Greek Prime Minister stated that he will always say that defense expenditures should be handled differently from the way they are included in the European Unions's calculations.
Emphasizing that Greece spends a lot on defense, Mitsotakis underlined that these costs also have a European dimension and that they increase the overall capacity of Europe to strengthen its strategic autonomy.
Source: Sputnik
