Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis reportedly told EU peers on Wednesday that Europe must also protect its southern and southeastern borders, in addition to its eastern frontier, speaking at an informal meeting of heads of state or government in Copenhagen.

The reference, as cited by sources, is a thinly veiled allusion to an increasingly revisionist and often aggressive policy followed by Erdogan-led Turkey, ranging from the Aegean, the eastern Mediterranean, the Middle East and even North Africa. Greece is also facing challenges emanating from strife-plagued Libya, with the internationally recognized interim government in Tripoli signing a maritime delimitation agreement with Turkey that Athens – as well as the EU – considers as baseless and illegal. Secondly, migrant smugglers are now using eastern Libya to launch vessels and boats laden with third country nationals attempting to land or reach close enough to EU territory in order to picked up by coast guard and Frontex patrol boats – which in this case is the large island of Crete.

According to reports, Mitsotakis told other European leaders that “we must learn the Ukraine lesson”, a reference, among others, to the use of new technologies on the battlefield. Along these lines, he said Europe must place itself in the cutting edge of defense-related technologies and acquire its own production capabilities and innovation.

In arriving at the summit, the Greek prime minister stated that “the time has come for Europe to mobilize European resources to support joint European defense projects, such as missile defense or a defense wall against drone intrusion, one of the projects proposed by the European Commission, something which is expected to be discussed today.”

“Any common defense project concerning Europe cannot be limited to the continent’s eastern borders. It must consider the security of Europe as a whole. Obviously, the southeastern border must be covered, as should the southern borders of Europe, so that our continent is shielded against any possible future threat,” the Greek prime minister reportedly told the other European leaders in Copenhagen.

Meloni

Along the same lines, Italian PM Giorgia Meloni reportedly warned that “we must not only look to the east and forget the southern flank. The alliance’s borders are very extensive.”