M. VARVITSIOTIS: Greece and Spain have strong ties of friendship Pandemic response and the progress of EU vaccinations, the Prime Minister’s proposal for a European vaccination certificate, EU Turkey relations, the Recovery Package, EU enlargement in the Western Balkans, and the migration issue were the focus of today’s talks in Athens between Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs Miltiadis Varvitsiotis and the Spanish State Secretary for the European Union, Juan González-Barba Pera, who is visiting our country. Following the meeting, Mr. Varvitsiotis underscored in his statements that Greece and Spain have strong ties of friendship and shared views on most issues concerning common European policies, highlighting that Spain supports Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ proposal for a European vaccination certificate. He also stressed that Spain supports Greece's positions on EU enlargement in the Western Balkans. The Spanish State Secretary noted that “our European future will give us the opportunity to develop closer relations between the two countries.” Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs Miltiadis Varvitsiotis made the following statement: “Today we welcome our friend the Spanish State Secretary for the European Union, Juan González-Barba Pera, with whom we had a long exchange of views, and we will continue our talks. With Juan, who speaks fluent Greek, we ascertained once again that Greece and Spain agree on the majority of issues that concern common policies in the framework of the European Union. We talked about issues that have to do with the response to the pandemic, coordination of European vaccination policies, and the European vaccination certificate – Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ proposal – which Spain supports. We talked about the Recovery Package, the need to use this money as soon as possible to reboot our economies. And of course we talked about the Balkans, EU enlargement, migration issues and EU-Turkey relations. I want to assure you that there is a great deal that unites us with Spain. There are strong bonds of friendship. There are shared views on the vast majority of issues, and the talks that take place between the two sides are aimed at ironing out any differences so that, at the end of the day, we can all serve our common European future together. I want to thank him in particular for the statement he made earlier – a statement supporting Greece’s positions on EU enlargement in the Western Balkans.”
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