According to Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, Estonia and Greece are in many ways similar as small maritime nations next to bigger neighbours. “We are very similar and like-minded. We stand as strong allies in NATO and work together as good partners in the EU. As border countries of the European Union, Estonia and Greece understand the geopolitical and migratory pressures and the threats and challenges caused by them,” said Kallas.
Kallas stressed at the meeting with Mitsotakis that Estonia will continue to help Greece manage migration. “For example, we have helped to secure the Greek sea border via FRONTEX for years and are one of the biggest contributors to these efforts per capita,” said Kallas. She added that coping with migratory pressures is made all the more difficult by the fact that we are facing regimes that deliberately use migration to pressure the European Union.
The prime ministers condemned the attacks against Israel. “What is happening in Israel shows the need for cooperation and unity among democracies. Security should not be taken for granted. No one should ever wake up to missile attacks. I offer my deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims. Estonia stands with Israel,” Kallas stressed.
Prime Minister Kallas thanked the Greek Prime Minister for his firm support for Ukraine as well as for the support for the unity of the EU and support for sanctions. “Russia continues its aggression, war crimes, and mass atrocities in Ukraine. We must continue to support Ukraine every way we can and further raise the price of aggression for Russia. We need strong new sanctions and we need to find ways to reduce circumventing these sanctions. Estonia’s position is that a complete trade embargo on Russia must be established within the EU and transit to third countries must be significantly restricted. We also need to curb Russia’s income from energy. It is important that a solution is found to the use of Russia’s frozen assets to compensate Ukraine for war damages,” Kallas added.
At the meeting, the Estonian and Greek prime ministers also discussed the further enlargement of the European Union. “The enlargement debate needs to highlight more what we all have to gain politically, economically, and socially from enlargement. At the same time, we must also prepare ourselves internally as a Union for enlargement,” said Kallas. “I hope that Ukraine will be able to meet the conditions and at least thereon, we will take a positive decision in the December Council to open accession negotiations,” she added.
Speaking about the EU budget, Prime Minister Kallas highlighted the need to explicitly stress that Europe will continue to support Ukraine militarily and economically for as long as necessary, and will also raise its own defence and crisis resilience. “War, defence capabilities, the migration crisis, and various natural disasters are issues that were not so prominent during the creation of the budget and need more joint attention.”
Digital cooperation between the two countries was also discussed at the meeting. “Last November in Tallinn, we talked in more detail with the Greek prime minister about the e-prescriptions. I am glad there is good progress here and I hope that soon, it will be possible to use the Estonian digital prescription in Greece and vice versa. I also invited Greek experts to Estonia to get acquainted with our digital justice system,” the prime minister said.
Press statement by Prime Minister Kallas (in English): https://valitsus.ee/en/news/remarks-prime-minister-kaja-kallas-press-conference-prime-minister-hellenic-republic-0
Photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/stenbockimaja/albums/72177720311804376
