Greece’s Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis said during a wide-ranging interview with the Associated Press on Monday that the world is facing the most turbulent times since World War II, while addressing global issues such as democracy, European unity and President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
He also weighed in on two of the globe’s major conflicts, saying the “nightmare” and escalating death toll in Gaza must end while he reiterated that Greece stands by Ukraine.
The interview took place at the Permanent Mission of Greece to the United Nations in New York ahead of a UN Security Council meeting on Thursday on protecting civilians in conflict, where Gerapetritis will preside. This month, Greece holds the rotating presidency of the UN body that is charged with ensuring international peace and security.
Regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Gerapetritis said Greece supports a two-state solution, has discussed it and Gaza’s reconstruction extensively with Israel and the Palestinians and sees itself as an “honest broker.”
“We would like to be actively involved, but to be totally honest, it’s not a matter of who mediates, it’s a matter of stopping the nightmare,” Greece’s top diplomat said.
Hamas’ killing of 1,200 people and taking of hostages from Israel on October 7, 2023 was absolutely inhumane, he said. Also, “I cannot really tolerate what is happening now in the Middle East,” he said pointing to the more than 53,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza, mostly women and children according to its health ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count.
Gerapetritis also called for massive humanitarian aid for Gaza and a speedy ceasefire.
The first few aid trucks entered Gaza this week, following a nearly three months of an Israeli blockade of food, medicine and other supplies.
Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, the Greek foreign minister said that Greece stands by Ukraine because it supports the rule of law and its sovereignty and territorial integrity, he said.
As for EU and US sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, he said they have only been partially successful because Moscow has found ways to circumvent their impact. The economic penalties have not become “a turning point for peace,” he said.
Amid the war in Ukraine, Gerapetritis said Europe is in a “political identity crisis.”
“It seems that on occasions, we forget what are the essential elements that brought us together as Europeans and we do suffer from some divergences and conflict,” he said. “And now we’re suffering the post-shock syndrome after the war in Ukraine. So I think Europe needs again to find its resilience and identity.”
Tarrifs imposed by the Trump administration haven’t had a major influence in the country, he said, “because we are not overexposed to that type of bilateral trade.”
But Greece is in favor of free trade, the minister said, and while “we do not consider that tariffs are good news…we do believe that there must be a modus vivendi,” a Latin phrase that in international relations often means a compromise between parties.
