'Greece has turned a page,' says premier

By Magda Panoutsopoulou

ATHENS (AA) - "Greece has turned a page,” the Greek prime minister said during his opening address to the European Parliament as part of the This is Europe initiative in Strasbourg on Tuesday.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis stressed that in 2015, Greece was one step away from the precipice of exiting the eurozone.

He recalled that the Greek society at that time was repeatedly hit by sections of blind and divisive populism and that like today, on July 5, 2015, a referendum was held, which almost gave the final shot, and only on the threshold of disorderly bankruptcy the then-government backed off "but the cost was high; banks closed, capital controls and an unnecessary third memorandum that led to a new round of austerity."

“In 2015, (Greece) was one step away from the abyss from leaving the EU,” he said, pointing out that Greece in 2022 cannot be compared to Greece back in 2015.

Those images have been deleted forever, Mitsotakis noted, saying Greece "has a new government that is leading the country into a new age,” and Athens aims to reduce unemployment and increase investments.

- Int'l developments, migration, and Türkiye

Referring to the international developments, Mitsotakis said "nothing in Europe, but also in Greece, is the same after the second decade of the 21st century."

He spoke of the unprecedented changes taking place across the globe, triggered by the "unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine," saying: "War is back on our continent."

He referred to the energy turmoil and inflationary revaluations besieging all European governments, while for many countries in the world, the nightmare of food shortages is reawakening. "All this creates a scene where the only constant is instability."

Greece, like Europe, is with peace and international law. "We stand against the invader who violated the legitimacy and the existing borders,” he said, adding that Greece is with democracy and Western civilization and rejects authoritarian despotism.

He emphasized that the battle of Ukraine is a turning point in Europe's path and Europe must help it today to prevent all kinds of fait accompli, which could be imitated tomorrow by new would-be rioters.

“Greece has stood as a guardian of Europe” with regards to migration, he said, managing to control the constant threats of "illegal migrants" from Türkiye, noting that the country saved 6,000 migrants coming from the sea.

On recent escalations with Türkiye, he said Greece “will not tolerate any challenge to its sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

“We keep our doors closed to threats, we keep our windows open to peaceful talks," he concluded.

Türkiye in recent months has stepped up criticism of Greece stationing troops on islands in the eastern Aegean, near the Turkish coast and in many cases visible from shore.

These islands were required to be demilitarized under the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne and the 1947 Treaty of Paris and Türkiye argues that the existence of troops in those islands is a clear breach of the treaties.