“Greece looks forward to further deepening the strategic partnership [avec les Etats-Unis] and work together on important regional and global issues », reacted the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, on Wednesday, November 6, on the social network X, shortly after Donald Trump’s speech announcing his victory in the US presidential elections. “I remember that the cooperation between Athens and Washington was perfect during the new president’s first term”added the conservative leader during a press conference.
Mitsotakis, however, did not hide his concern for the future of Europe and NATO after the election of the Republican candidate: “Europe must try to recover its position on the international map. (…) As Europeans, we must organize to have an independent energy policy, work for a common defense, in other words, build strategic autonomy in these new circumstances. »
During Donald Trump’s first term in the White House (2017-2021), Greece and the United States grew closer by signing bilateral agreements, particularly on weapons and defense. Since Joe Biden succeeded him in Washington, Greek-Turkish relations have calmed down. According to experts, the American president played a crucial role in the detente between Athens and Ankara, giving reasons to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan not to move further away from NATO by signing an agreement on the modernization of fighter jets. Turkish F-16. .
Strategic importance of Greece
In recent years, Greece has gained strategic importance for the United States due to the two NATO bases located on its territory where American soldiers are stationed: one in Souda, Crete, ideally positioned to monitor the situation in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East. ; the other in Alexandroupolis, a few kilometers from the mouth of the Black Sea and Ukraine.
Athens fears certain positions of Donald Trump, in particular his desire to withdraw from NATO and move away from Europe. With the victory of the Republican candidate, “We should not expect a spectacular setback that would change the dynamics of relations between the two countries”esteem in an interview with the magazine lifo Triantafyllos Karatrantos, researcher at the Hellenic Foundation for Foreign and European Policy. “But Trump’s view of international law and norms certainly does not favor countries that are invested in maintaining the status quo, like Greece. On the contrary, it can create opportunities for countries with revisionist and interventionist policies, such as Türkiye. duck.
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