ROME – Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Tuesday confirmed her backing of a statement by Italian Foreign Affairs Minister Antonio Tajani regarding Greece’s undisputed sovereignty over its islands in the Aegean, in reply to a question from the Athens-Macedonian News Agency. She also expressed her desire to cooperate with Greece on migration and refugee issues and to meet with her Greek counterpart, Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

“I confirm this statement by Tajani and I also confirm that I am extremely interested in working to further enhance bilateral relations with Greece and with the countries of the Mediterranean in general. You have seen that we have greatly promoted Italy’s presence on the front of the South. Our interest is huge. I have not yet been able to meet the Greek prime minister but we have found ourselves spontaneously promoting various initiatives jointly. I hope to meet him soon and consider that in migration also – to once again confirm statements by Tajani – Greece, together with Italy, Malta and Cyprus (in other words the countries that are most exposed) are those which surely know the subject better and can work in the most efficient way for a solution. A solution that is in the interests of all sides, because we are talking about the external borders of the European Union and this, consequently, is an issue that I consider should interest us and does interest us all. Especially those of us who are the most exposed [to it], have the greatest interest and the most knowledge to try to put together an effective proposal. This is precisely what we are doing,” she said.

(ANA/Th. Andreadis)