Statements are being made at this time by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis together with his Spanish counterpart Pedro Sánchez from Madrid.

Pedro Sánchez referred at the beginning of his remarks to the Mercosur agreement, highlighting its economic importance. Greece and Spain have good relations and solid economic fundamentals. Greece went through the euro crisis and today holds the presidency of the Eurogroup.

As he said, “In the case of Spain and Greece, we are talking about the development of our countries, which is taking place almost in parallel; we are also dealing with our external debt and we constitute an example of good management of these problems. For the dynamism and progress that all of Europe can share, Spain and Greece believe that the common acquis, common security, economic governance, carbon policy and agricultural policy are very important, as are issues of migration and climate change, as well as peace in Ukraine—we share common perspectives.”

“We are,” he continued, “the southern borders of the Union and we have defensive planning also with regard to migration; we want a coherent migration framework.”

The Spanish prime minister made special reference to the presence of Greek firefighters last summer during the major fires in Spain. “We are sending out hope for our societies,” he concluded.