Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met with the Netherlands’ caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte at The Hague on Friday.
Talks focused on the agenda of an upcoming European Council meeting, with the main topics set to revolve around the situation in Ukraine, EU enlargement policy and the Union’s long-term budget for 2021-2027.
“We are particularly interested about enlargement with regards to the western Balkans, as are you,” Mitsotakis said, in statements ahead of next week’s EU-Western Balkans summit in Brussels.
Both leaders also discussed developments in the Mideast and the eastern Mediterranean, while the Greek premier briefing the outgoing Dutch prime minister over this past week’s visit to Athens by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and a large Turkish state delegation.
The highlight of the mini summit was signing of the Athens Declaration on Friendly Relations and Good-Neighbourliness.
The Greek PM also cited the most recent restoration of the country’s investment grade rating, with Rutte recalling that “I remember discussions in 2011, 2012 and 2015 – that this could never happen…” “(Greece) has now returned to normalcy, and this for us, of course, is a rather important achievement”, Mitsotakis replied.
