BRUSSELS – The European Council starting today is of critical importance, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Thursday, because the time has come to deal with the greatest issue of all European societies, the high inflation rates.

Mitsotakis made the statements as he arrived in Brussels for the meeting, which follows the informal European Council held in Prague on 7 October. Today’s European Council will discuss Ukraine, energy, economic issues and external relations.

The Greek premier said that the EU leaders had “reached a point where we have a package of proposals from the European Commission that moves in the right direction” and expressed the certainty that “even the most reluctant of European Council members” will be convinced to sign off on it. The proposal includes a cap on the natural gas prices at Title Transfer Facility (TTF) level.

“I believe that the European Commmision has thought through its proposals, and I would expect that there will be agreement by the end of the Summit, so that we may assign the European Commision with moving ahead with these proposals,” Mitsotakis said.

Responding to other questions, he said he had been informed of British Prime Minister Liz Truss’ resignation but had not read her statements and could not take a stance on the issue, but he underlined that Greece “always supported a productive relationship between the European Union and the United Kingdom, and I hope that this political instability afflicting the United Kingdom for a while now finally comes to an end.”

(ANA-MPA/N. Armenis)