PM Mitsotakis: Greece will respond with confidence whenever provoked

The prime minister also underlined that Greece will respond when provoked adding that it is inconceivable to accuse Greece of increasing tension when it is Turkey that directly challenges our territorial sovereignty.

"At today's informal EU summit, in Prague, we will have the opportunity to revisit the crucial issue that concerns us all the last months. I am referring to the extremely high energy prices - and especially natural gas - as a result of Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and Russia's attempt to instrumentalise energy sources at the expense of Europe," the prime minister said at the beginning of his remarks and added: "I believe, that the conditions have now matured so that in the next Summit, in Brussels, we can take definitive decisions for a drastic intervention in the natural gas market."

Everyone now realizes what the Greek Government has been claiming for several months now: that the natural gas market practically does not work, that a drastic intervention is needed in order to reduce the cost of natural gas at the European level and thus to facilitate national governments to support EU businesses and households.

I believe that the European Commission is also moving in this direction and we will await its final proposals for decision-making, at our level, in a few weeks at the European Union Summit in Brussels.," he stated.

When asked about Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's stance on Thursday, Mitsotakis replied that "Greece never provokes but it does respond, with confidence, every time it is provoked. I had the opportunity – in front of the 43 leaders that attended the first meeting of the European Political Community – to reiterate what I said in the United Nations (Assembly). It is unthinkable that Greece is blamed today for raising tension in the Aegean, while Turkey is the one that directly poses issues that concern even the sovereignty of the Greek islands. And it is impossible to proceed with a de-escalation of the relations between Greece and Turkey as long as this rhetoric persists."

"Greece is not the one that shuts the door on dialogue. We feel absolute confidence and certainty that we are right and we have International Law by our side," he underlined.