Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in a press interview after the conclusion of the European Council in Brussels and in response to a question about migration and Libya's stance, stated the following:
"We had the opportunity, together with my Italian counterpart, to inform our colleagues about the significant increase in flows and about this new route, which seems to be opening between Eastern Libya and Crete. And of course, it is also positive that the European Commission has recognised the risk and seems to be prepared to take measures. The competent Commissioner for Migration will visit Libya in early July, I think shortly after the visit of the Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs, together with his counterparts from Greece, Italy and Malta.
"He will go to both Eastern and Western Libya, in order to convey the message that this practice cannot continue and do everything in his power to ensure a good understanding with the Libyan authorities, so that there is a much better surveillance of the maritime borders of Libya.
"At the same time, Greece has acted independently, having sent some ships outside the territorial waters of Libya in order to be able to have a better picture of what is happening in the field and whenever ships or boats are detected, we try to at least communicate with the Libyan authorities, so that they are 'intercepted' by the Libyan authorities themselves within the territorial waters of Libya and return back to Libya.
"We will therefore use all the measures at our disposal, I would say, as Greece but also as Europe. And adopt a carrot and a stick method, to put it a little more popularly, in order to ensure that this new path will not become entrenched."
In response to a question from the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA-MPA), asking what result the reference to the Turkish-Libyan memorandum included in the conclusions at Greece's request might have, given that Libya and Turkiye want to conduct exploration for fossil fuels in the region, and what can be expected in Greek-Libyan relations going forward, in view of the visit of the Minister of Foreign Affairs to Libya, Mitsotakis replied:
"First of all, it is positive that the statement that the Turkish-Libyan memorandum is non-existent and illegal was repeated, at Greece's request.
"It is important that this is done, in order to send a clear message to Libya, that we do not accept, not as Greece, as Europe, any such fait accompli. But I have to tell you, because I hear again in Greece a criticism, I would say, quite superficial and unfounded, that when a country exercises its rights in the field, as Greece did, not in theory, in the field, essentially by declaring plots and granting drilling permits south of Crete, it is logical that there may be some reactions.
"However, without having yet seen in great detail what was announced, at first glance it seems that the plots that were declared respect the median line. And I think this is a positive development. And in any case, the invitation to Libya, to any Libyan authority that is able to conduct such a negotiation - I doubt if this can until Libya has a unified government - to delimit maritime zones with Libya, is still valid in its entirety.
"And one last thing. Our country had the opportunity in the past to proceed with such a delimitation. It did not do it. Let some who held positions, had these responsibilities in the past, remember this. On the contrary, we are the ones who delimited the exclusive economic zone and continental shelf with Egypt and with Italy and who exercise our sovereign rights in the field."
Regarding the Middle East, Mitsotakis stated the following: "First of all, we believe in diplomacy and we now call on all parties involved to negotiate the future of Iran's nuclear programme, in a logic that will ensure that Iran will never acquire a nuclear weapon. I think this is something that unites all my colleagues and not only them. But the solution, again, we emphasise, must be diplomatic and not military. Greece once again brought up the issue of the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Included in the conclusions is what I would call an urgent request to finally end this Israeli operation in Gaza so that Palestinian civilians do not pay for it, always in combination, of course, let me emphasise this, with the release of the hostages, who are still alive.
"And I think that now is the time to exert maximum pressure on Israel to proceed with such a move."