Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs Miltiadis Varvitsiotis’ meeting with the Estonian Foreign Ministry’s Undersecretary for European Affairs, Märt Volmer (Tallinn, July 5, 2021)

The Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs Miltiadis Varvitsiotis took the opportunity to raise the issue of the new major challenge Europe is facing at its external borders, that of the instrumentalization of migration flows, during his meeting with the Estonian Foreign Ministry’s Undersecretary for European Affairs Märt Volmer today, July 5, first day of his official tour in the Baltic States.

As he pointed out, “we now witness the same phenomenon that we saw last year in Evros, with the instrumentalization of migration flows by the Turkish authorities, being repeated at the external borders of the EU, with the most recent case being Lithuania”. Mr. Varvitsiotis called for joint action in support of a coherent European policy that does not disproportionately burden countries on the EU’s external borders and stressed that Europe must find a single voice in foreign relations in order to “translate our unity into power”.

Welcoming Estonia’s honest attitude in the UN Security Council, of which it is currently a non-permanent member, the Alternate Minister noted that the respect for international law is the foundation of the foreign policy of both countries, and he did not fail to point out the convergence of views of the two countries on critical European issues, such as the Recovery and Resilience Facility and the EU Digital COVID Certificate, noting that “in all crucial European battles we stood together because we were on the right side”.

The need for further European coordination on fiscal policy, the progress of national recovery and resilience plans, the Conference on the Future of Europe, and the bilateral exchange of good practices, especially in the field of digital technology, were also discussed during the meeting.

The Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs will continue the round of official contacts with his counterparts by traveling tomorrow, July 6, to Riga, Latvia, and then on July 7 to Vilnius, Lithuania, where he will also represent Greece in the 4th Ukraine Reform Conference.