ATHENS — Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis sent a message to European leaders to support the European economies affected by the coronavirus without obstacles on July 18 , speaking at the teleconference of the leaders of the Smart Covid-19 Management Group. These are the countries that have successfully managed the first wave of the pandemic. Addressing his European counterparts, he stressed that, given the consensus that "the virus will be here for much longer than we expected", the European response should be similar.

"We need an agreement on July 18," said Kyriakos Mitsotakis, referring to the upcoming EU summit, and reiterated that the agreement "must be ambitious and not be late."

At the same time, he added that the effects of the pandemic on the economy are raising the bar of expectations and that flexibility is needed.

The Prime Minister also referred extensively to Greece's preparations to receive tourists from July 1 and noted that Greece welcomes them with the first concern being the safety of both visitors and residents of tourist destinations and strictly implementing protocols in case they occur cases. He also noted that over the last period less than 1 out of 1,000 visitors who had been tested at the airport had positive results.