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| Stelios Petsas |
Mitsotakis, who spoke on the phone with the German Chancellor, recalled to Mrs. Merkel as having reminded to all EU leaders, European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen in letters sent to them, that Greece has vital interests in the region and that it will protect its sovereign rights in any possible way. The Greek prime minister has also recalled the conclusion of the December 2019 EU Summit on Libya and the 'memoranda' between Turkey and the Lebanese government of Faiz Saraj, which have been characterized as invalid and non-existent, Petas added.
The government spokesman said it was clear that Germany, as the host country, did not want the discussion to include maritime issues and that it wanted the conference to focus clearly on the issue of the political solution in Libya, Petsas said. The Greek government's spokesman also said Athens would do everything necessary to protect its sovereign rights, including by veto.
Representatives of more than ten countries, including the United States, Turkey, and Russia, meet in Berlin on Sunday to try to put an end to the armed conflict in Libya and prevent a new refugee crisis, similar to that of Syria. China, the UK, Italy, France, Egypt, Algeria, and the United Arab Emirates also have their representatives at the Summit, which is chaired by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
German officials said representatives of the United Nations, the European Union, and the Arab League will also attend the Summit. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, French President Emmanuel Macron, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson have already arrived in Berlin or confirmed their participation. A US official who is part of Secretary Pompeo's delegation said the problem of Libya is increasingly resembling to Syria, where hundreds of thousands of people were killed and millions displaced during the long civil war.