PM Mitsotakis in Brussels for Special European Council Meeting

Mitsotakis will have migration and natural disasters on his agenda at the meeting, which is a follow-up to the Council meeting of 14-15 December where EU leaders discussed revising the MFF in an effort to create long-term support for Ukraine and to add funding for STEP

01.02.2024 08:30

Politics

Newsroom

PM Mitsotakis in Brussels for Special European Council Meeting

01.02.2024 08:30

Politics

Newsroom

Mitsotakis will have migration and natural disasters on his agenda at the meeting, which is a follow-up to the Council meeting of 14-15 December where EU leaders discussed revising the MFF in an effort to create long-term support for Ukraine and to add funding for STEP

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is in Brussels today for a Special European Council meeting that will primarily focus on Ukraine, but Mitsotakis will have the key issues of migration and natural disaster recovery on his agenda. As he arrived at the EU Summit Mitsotakis referred to the rural mobilizations, stating that “Greece, from the very beginning, advocated for the European Commission to implement a halt to the fallow land policy on a European level.” Furthermore, he expressed his support to Greek farmers stating “The Greek state, within its fiscal capabilities, is very close to the primary sector so that, to the extent possible, we can address the fair demands of our farmers and livestock breeders.”

Today’s meeting is a follow-up to discussions of December 14-15, 2023 and according to a press release by the European Council, EU leaders will discuss the mid-term revision of the EU’s long-term budget called the multiannual financial framework (MFF) for 2021-2027.

Two key concerns are the creation of a facility that will provide long-term stability to Ukraine and also the strategic technologies for Europe platform (STEP), that the Council says will make Europe more competitive.

Leaders are negotiating over an additional €64.6 billion that, according to the Council, should be spent on the following priorities.

€50 billion for the Ukraine Facility (€17 billion in grants and €33 billion in loans)
€2 billion for migration and border management
€7.6 billion for the neighborhood and the world
€1.5 billion for the European Defense Fund under the new STEP instrument
€2 billion for the flexibility instrument
€1.5 billion for the solidarity and emergency aid reserve

Mitsotakis is expected to continue to argue for a holistic revision of the MFF which not only focuses on Ukraine but will increase resources for migration and natural disasters, two top issues for Greece, according to ToVima.

At the last meeting, 26 out of 27 of the leaders of the EU leaders came to a political agreement that indeed included the priorities of Greece and which would increase funds for migration and dealing with natural disasters.

The meeting will be held today at 11:00 Greece time and amidst a generally tense atmosphere in Brussels on account of the ongoing mobilizations of farmers and a large demonstration planned for today.