Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Monday said there is still time to settle on his proposal for presidential candidate, but he is close to a final decision, during an informal lunch with journalists at Schedia street magazine's restaurant and cultural hub in central Athens.
The five-year term of Greece' current President Prokopios Pavlopoulos, elected in February 2015, expires in 2020 and parliament must elect a new president by the end of 2019.
Referring to current tensions in Greek-Turkish relations, Mitsotakis said Turkey is now isolated diplomatically, but reiterated that communication between the two counties must be kept open. He also stressed that Greece would only agree to resorting to the UN's International Court of Justice in The Hague only for the issues of the continental shelf and Cyprus' Exclusive Economic Zone.
Speaking of armaments, he said, "If the country's current fiscal state allows it, we will seriously consider purchasing F-35 fighter jets, because they are the most readily available and advanced in the market."
On the situation in Libya, he stressed that Greece wants a political solution supported by the EU. Greece wants any regime coming to power to cancel Libya's Memorandum of Understanding with Turkey.
Schedia is a monthly free-press magazine sold by street vendors who are homeless, and is distributed in the streets of Athens and Thessaloniki since 2013. This is the second time the prime minister meets with the magazine team.
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