Mitsotakis: Praise for EU’s Covid-19 travel certificate; immediate and severe sanctions on Belarus

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Monday expressed his government’s satisfaction with an agreement by Europe’s institutions to establish the framework for a Covid-19 certificate which will facilitate free travel.

Mitsotakis’ government has been at the forefront of pressing and proposing to the Union to set-up a certificate that will show whether an individual has been vaccinated against Covid-19, has recently tested negative or has enough anti-bodies from previous exposure. For Greece, the major challenge is to salvage as much of its tourism season and accompanying revenues as possible.

His statements came as Greece neared the five-million-mark for vaccinations (at least one dose of available vaccines) in a country with a population of roughly 11 million.

Conversely, on a much dimmer note, Mitsotakis called for the enactment of very severe sanctions against Belarus, “as soon as possible”.

The Greek government remains incensed by the forced landing of an Athens-to-Vilnius Ryanair flight a day earlier, Sunday, in Minsk. Belarus air traffic controllers ordered the plane to land in the Belarus capital on the pretext of a “bomb scare”, with the real intent being to arrest a Belarus dissident journalist/blogger on board.

“We’ll have the opportunity to discuss today issues that deal with the EU’s external relations… Allow me to remain on the incident of the diversion of the Ryanair flight… This is an act that essentially equals piracy by the state; it’s not enough to remain only with verbal condemnations, the EU must enact a strong bundle of sanctions against Belarus as soon as possible, in order to send a message that such practices cannot be tolerated on the European continent.”