Macron, Mitsotakis arrive in Cyprus
French President Emmanuel Macron and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis arrived at the Andreas Papandreou airbase in Paphos early on Monday afternoon for a tripartite meeting with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides.
Mitsotakis arrived first and is joined in Cyprus by his Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis, with Macron’s presidential jet touching down in Paphos while the Greek prime minister and the Cypriot president were exchanging pleasantries on the tarmac.
Christodoulides, meanwhile, was accompanied to Paphos by his own Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos and Defence Minister Vasilis Palmas, with talks now ongoing.
On Sunday, the Elysee palace had said that the meeting’s aim would be “to strengthen security around Cyprus and in the eastern Mediterranean with our European partners, with a view to contributing to de-escalation in the region”.
“This trip aims to demonstrate France’s solidarity with Cyprus, a member state of the European Union with which we have a strategic partnership, which was struck last week by several drones and missile attacks,” it said.
The choice of Paphos as the location of the visit comes after Greece deployed four F-16 fighter jets to the town’s airbase last Monday, with both France and Greece also having deployed frigates to the waters off the island’s coast.
Greece deployed two frigates, including the Kimon, which was described by Mitsotakis on Wednesday as the “pride of the Greek fleet”, while France’s Languedoc frigate arrived in Cypriot waters on Wednesday.
Macron had also announced that the aircraft carrier the Charles de Gaulle will also be deployed in the eastern Mediterranean. It is believed that the aircraft carrier and its strike group passed through the Strait of Gibraltar on Friday.
“We are also ensuring close coordination with our allies, our European partners, first and foremost, our Greek friends, so that this effort in the eastern Mediterranean is strengthened by willing nations,” Macron said in a televised address on Tuesday night.
He added that France is “taking the initiative to build a coalition to bring together the resources, including military resources, to resume and secure traffic in maritime routes which are essential to the global economy”.
Christodoulides responded to Macron’s announcement by saying that he “warmly” thanks him “for the concrete and deeply appreciated support provided by France to Cyprus”.
“Cyprus and France are bound by a strong and lasting strategic partnership. In these times of crisis, this partnership is concretely reflected in close cooperation and active solidarity,” he wrote in a post on social media.
Earlier in the week, Macron had visited France’s Ile Longue base, where it houses its nuclear ballistic missile submarines, in a show of strength amid the ongoing conflict.
“In this dangerous and unstable world … to be free, one must be feared. I am convinced of this,” he said during the visit, before describing France’s nuclear arsenal as “the cornerstone of its security”.