The Prime Minister answered a number of questions on a broad agenda Kyriakos Mitsotakis in the context of the TIF press conference.

“I can’t imagine a Greek-Turkish conflict”

Taking into account Greek-Turkish relations and the escalation of Turkish rhetoric, when asked if he was afraid of a sharp episode, Mr. Mitsotakis condemned Turkish rhetoric and stressed that he was always open to meeting with Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“I consider the recent statements of the President of Turkey unacceptable. The constant provocations by the Turkish establishment are extremely problematic. On the eve of the elections, parties in Turkey are playing nationalism, but undermining good neighborly relations. We are not going to follow them in a stream of harsh statements. It would be irresponsible and not in my character. But we will give clear answers,” he said.

He added: “Turkey is provoking tension and presenting Greece as the alleged aggressor. There is no one abroad who believes that the Greek islands pose a threat to Turkey. We will build our alliances even more consistently. We are equipping our ED, but we will also have channels open with Turkey. I didn’t blow up bridges with Turkey. I am always open to meeting with Erdogan. He does not want. But I’ve heard this before. And finally, we met and will meet again. A meeting of the European political community is taking place in Prague, which may be attended by Turkey. But let Turkey know that if she ends up there, she will face the Greek argument.”

In a follow-up question on the same subject, he said: “I cannot imagine a conflict between Greece and Turkey with Turkey as the aggressor. If this happened, Turkey would receive an answer catalytic. Turkey knows the degree? readiness Greek Armed forces”.

When asked about the war in Ukraine, he sent an indirect message to Turkey: “Our position draws a line between countries that abide by national laws and those that they conspire those who consider themselves weak. The support we provide is of great importance to Greece. “Let the cough stop” to anyone he fantasizes something similar”.

Mitsotakis: Measures do not undermine targets – investment grade in 2023

“We have done everything necessary for the upcoming difficult winter”

“I want to absolutely assure citizens that we have done everything necessary for the upcoming difficult winter, both in terms of natural gas supplies and LNG supplies,” he answered the question of whether the adequacy of the energy supply is guaranteed.

He added that SYRIZA deals with incredible disinformation at the retail price of electricity. “We cannot live in a world of fake news, such lies cannot be reproduced,” he said characteristically. In terms of support for households and businesses, Kyriakos Mitsotakis made it clear that despite what he says he has “total” opposition, the government is not going to exceed budget limits.

“We need to reduce the demand for gas in general,” he said, adding: “We are preparing for the worst-case scenario, which is the complete cessation of gas supplies from Russia.”

“It’s a one way street delignitization countries in the long term,” he replied to another question, adding that it was “a temporary measure to resort to using lignite for one to two years due to high natural gas prices. Some of them brown coal units had reached their life limit and it could not be extended.” “This year it will be more economical to heat houses with fuel oil than with natural gas,” he stressed.

“Ready for any challenge in the field of refugees”

Kyriakos Mitsotakis on the issue of refugees and Turkey’s position on Evros and the border replied: “The country is ready to face any challenge. When we say we are guarding borders effectively and with respect for human rights, we do and will continue to do so.”

The prime minister thanked the authorities protecting the borders and assured that “we will continue to unwaveringly pursue the policy that we adhere to.”

Per NGOs who reproduce Turkey’s rhetoric on this issue, said the following: “There are some NGOs for which refugees are a business. We know which ones we want to work with and which ones are potentially problematic. The exploitation of refugees is behavior that should also be politically reprehensible. For people who come to Greece and are real refugees, we have accelerated asylum procedures and relieved structures.”

“The electoral law will not change”

He characterized the simple proportional “catastrophic system”, estimating that “we will arrive at the results of the re-election from the simple mathematics of a simple proportional”. He then stressed that it is theoretically possible to form a government without the first party. “Numerically it could happen, but it would be political teratogenesis,” he said.

He noted that “Mr. Androulakis is close to SYRIZA”, he said that he respects Mr. Venizelos, “although we have not come to an agreement lately”, adding that with the former President of PASOK, as well as with other officials PASOK-KINAL, “there is more that unites us than that that divides us.”

He rejected any scenario of cooperation with Hellenic Solution, saying that “I am not close to Mr. Velopoulos at all.” “The independent government of the SR does not imply a one-party government”, stating that “the government is expanded in terms of executive capacity with people who do not historically come from the SR.”

“I want to clarify the issue of elections and that people give us a second mandate, not a second time during the catastrophe,” he said and stressed: “The dilemma is Mitsotakis or Tsipras. No one else has an alternative management proposal. The leader of the first party must also be prime minister.”

I have said many times that the rules of the game are fixed and should not be changed in the months leading up to national elections. So we will start the elections with the adopted electoral law. #TEF2022 pic.twitter.com/G8iQkLmjxV

— Prime Minister GR (@PrimeministerGR) September 11, 2022

Members of the LGBTI+ community in government

For the committee on LGBTI rights and the possibility of marriage for same-sex couples: “For the first time in our country, a national strategy for the LGBTI+ community has appeared. There are first tangible results. For example, the ban on blood donation was lifted, conversion methods of treatment were canceled in our country, and the issue of operations for intersex babies was settled. For the first time, openly gay men are participating in the Greek government. It is significant that this is being done by a centre-right government. There is already legal recognition of the cohabitation agreement. For a civil marriage, everything has its time.

“Yes” to the term femicide

“I accept her condition”femicide“Because I want to clarify that these crimes, the ones that we covered up, need to be given a special character, and not a special legal sanction. I cannot agree that killing a woman is more heinous than killing a child or an elderly person. Yes , let’s use this term because it makes one break the silence about crimes that have these characteristics.”

“Yes to the term femicide for public debate, yes to all the activities that allow women to find refuge, yes to this new profession in EL.AS, yes to speak and use this term, it forces Omerta to break the silence,” he added.

University Police

Referring to the university police after a related question, he said that the staff had been trained and it was important to win the bet that this was not a repressive mechanism.

“We will win the bet and we will persist in the direction in which we were moving,” he stressed.

“Violence is decreasing, the police have been strengthened, there are no more criminals. In universities, we are making progress with difficulties, however, in implementing the law. We need our universities to be safe, so very important progress has been made. However, it is clear that we are facing new forms of violence “, he noted.