BRUSSELS – Today’s negotiations over the new EU budget “is critical for Europe’s future,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in Brussels on Thursday, prior to the start of member states’ talks over the new multiannual fiscal program for the next six years.

Mitsotakis said the national line of Greece was “to guarantee to the best of our abilities the revenues of our farmers and to help them transition to a new model of production that will be environmentally friendly.”

Greece is claiming more funding for development funds, including NSRF, to create more and better-paid jobs, especially in the regions, Mitsotakis said.

He also predicted “it will be a difficult discussion,” but asserted that the government would both support traditional policies like the Cohesion Policy and the Common Agricultural Policy, and be more ambitious on policies related to climate change and border control. “If we want to be more ambitious,” he said of the EU, “we will need much more funding.”

The prime minister said he was hopeful that all member states would agree to a commonly acceptable solution on the budget, and expressed regret for the lower funding available than initially expected for the migration issue and the guarding of the borders, although the funding Greece would receive would be higher than that of the previous program period.”

The EU summit started at 4:00 p.m. (Athens time) and is continuing.

By ANA-MPA/D. Manolis