ATHENS – “These predictions (of early elections) are completely unfounded,” government spokesperson Yiannis Oikonomou said in reply to a question during a press briefing on Thursday.

“Greece needs stability, strong unity and determination and the prime minister’s concern is to take decisions both at home and in cooperation with our partners abroad in order to have the best possible response to the very adverse consequences of the unprecedented developments we are seeing on a global level,” he said.

“We have repeated many times that any discussion about elections at this moment in time is completely without foundation,” he said.

Referring to the government’s expectations from the Mitsotakis-Erdogan meeting, he said: “The fact that we have disagreements with Turkey does not mean that we should not talk. The prime minister approaches this debate with realism, our positions are known, they are positions based on international law and this gives us extra confidence. On the other hand, it is clear that both countries, despite our differences, face a number of common challenges after the Russian invasion of Ukraine concerning our wider region and it is in the interest of both countries to seek common ways to address these challenges, especially given the climate that has now arisen globally, in the EU, in NATO, of unequivocal condemnation of all attempted revisionism, challenges to international law but also of the blatant violation of the independence and territorial integrity of countries.”

“Greece, within Europe, is striving for solutions that no country can achieve alone”

Oikonomou started the press briefing on Thursday with a reference to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ participation in the extraordinary meeting of the European Council in Paris, with the strategic autonomy of Europe as its main agenda.

Oikonomou said that the prime minister stressed the importance of reducing Europe’s reliance on Russia for energy and referred to the six points outlined in his letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, calling them “pillars of a new European viewpoint.”

Stating that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has implications for the world economy and gas prices, the government spokesperson said “it is a European-wide problem that requires a European-wide solution,” and stressed that the prime minister had succeeded in including in the conclusions of the previous summit a reference to a common European response to the problem of price increases by setting up, among others, a European solidarity mechanism.

Oikonomou said that the support of consumers, businesses and farmers to cover a significant part of energy price increases will continue, while in the near future targeted measures will be announced to support poorer households.

He stressed that Greece is in Europe and with Kyriakos Mitsotakis as prime minister, it strengthens its voice and demands, together with other European countries, to achieve solutions that no country can achieve alone.