EU member-states should help Greece deal with migration, says US envoy
All countries of the European Union must do their part in helping Greece deal with the recent uptick in the arrival of migrants to the islands of the eastern Aegean, US Ambassador to Greece, Geoffrey Pyatt said on Monday at the 6th Annual Economic Forum of the Hellenic Association of Entrepreneurs.
“The United States strongly supports [Alternate] Minister [for Migration Giorgos] Koumoutsakos’ efforts, both to ensure that the EU-Turkey agreement is upheld in all of its dimensions, but also to keep reminding people that this is not a Greece-Turkey problem. This is an EU-Turkey problem, and it needs to be shared by all 27 members of the European Union,” he told a journalist at the event.
“I think everybody shares an interest in seeing the enforcement of the EU-Turkey agreement in all its dimensions.”
Pyatt said he had confidence in the ability of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s government to manage the problem.
Responding to a question about US-Greek relations, the ambassador noted the “clear signal” from the US administration that “the time to invest in Greece is now,” and pointed to the series of investor roundtables Mitsotakis participated in during his visit to the US last week.
“We also believe that the economic agenda that the Prime Minister is pursuing is of strategic importance to the United States. Because … the more successful the Prime Minister is in his agenda of growing the Greek economy, the better Greece is able to perform that role as a pillar of stability, whether it’s the cooperation that we’re engaged in on strategic energy policy or the military cooperation which our NATO forces are engaged with every day,” he said.
The discussion also included the US-Greece Strategic Dialogue which will be held ext Monday, after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo completes his three-day visit to Athens.
The Dialogue will include defense issues, investment in economic cooperation, energy and law enforcement and counterterrorism cooperation.
