Greece’s strategic aim is to improve its cooperation with the United Kingdom and enjoy even better relations post-Brexit for “strategic, historic and economic reasons,” Alternate Foreign Minister for European issues Miltiadis Varvitsiotis said on Tuesday, according to ANA.
Speaking during the seminar “No Deal Brexit – Preparation of Public Administration and Businesses in the event of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU without an agreement,” which took place at the foreign ministry on Tuesday and organised jointly with the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV), Varvitsiotis said that the ministry’s efforts were focused on minimizing the cost of Brexit for Greece’s economy as far as possible.
The ministry’s task was also to inform Greek exporters, importers, businesses, as well as Greek expatriates living in the UK and Britons living in Greece. He pointed out the need to protect the rights of an estimated 115,000 Greek nationals in the UK (of which only 24,000 had registered with the UK government’s settlement scheme) and some 50,000 UK nationals in Greece.
Varvitsiotis warned that some problems with the free movement of goods and services will inevitably arise, despite the preparations, and noted the need to reach an understanding based on the principle of mutuality and protection of PDO products.
The foreign ministry has prepared a plan for 128 actions in the case of a no-deal Brexit, including legislative measures, and the launch of processes to sign bilateral agreements on educational, cultural, trade and shipping issues. It has also set up the website brexit.gov.gr to inform the Greek public, provide answers to frequently asked questions, record the answers and get feedback from markets and society that will help isolate and solve possible problems, he added.
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