The theme of this year’s General Assembly asks us to accelerate action towards peace, prosperity, progress and sustainability for all. I would argue that it is a laudable goal and one that now matters more than ever before. But I must also ask if it is anywhere near enough. I pose that question not because I wish to test the patience of the Assembly, but rather because even though collective multilateral solutions can and often do make a difference, it seems to me that too many of those solutions fall short of our ambitions. Our words are never quite matched by our actions, and our achievements never quite meet our expectations. It is as if the nations in the United Nations are not quite united enough.
Nowhere is that clearer to me than in two core areas — tackling climate change and managing migration, both of which will be at the heart of Greece’s Security Council candidacy for the 2025-2026 term. If elected. Greece will make climate and migration central tenets of its time on the Council, in addition to focusing on international law and maritime security. That is because, at least in part, the global community’s current collective approach to climate and migration speaks to a failure to match its rhetoric to its delivery on policy. Given the fact that we just experienced the hottest summer on record and that we talk rather than act when it comes to tackling the main drivers of irregular migration or even the implementation of the existing transnational agreements, we are in fact failing.
We must work harder collectively to change that. Twelve months ago from this very rostrum. I warned that without multilateral cooperation, the devastating effects of climate change would soon be the norm rather than the exception (see A/77/PV.10). Twelve months later, that new norm has unfortunately already arrived. This summer, floods, fires, heatwaves and landslides have gripped Southern Europe. North Africa and the Mediterranean, bringing unprecedented destruction to the region, from Slovenia to Libya and from Italy to Greece. Nowhere was that more apparent for Greeks than across Evros. in the north-east of my country, where the largest blaze ever recorded in the European Union (EU) burned continuously for almost two weeks. In all. 20 people were killed, hundreds lost their homes and livelihoods and an area greater in size than New York City was razed to ashes. Some 700 firefighters from across Europe fought valiantly to contain that devastating megafire, but they could not tame it.
As if that was not enough. 10 days later Greece was struck by Storm Daniel. The region of Thessaly, in the centre of our country, saw twice as much rainfall in one day as falls in London in an entire year. It was the worst storm to hit Greece in more than a century. Daniel carved its destructive path not only through my country but Libya, too. landing on the coastal city of Derna. where the death toll now stands in the tens of thousands. The impact of those events across the Mediterranean is unprecedented, with lives lost, businesses destroyed, communities upended, social cohesion undermined and the fragile ecology of our most precious natural habitats severely compromised. Of course. I accept that the climate crisis is not an alibi for everything, but the science is clear. Unprecedented temperatures, fuelled by global warming, are creating the conditions that drive those catastrophic events. This is no longer a crisis of the poorest or of the global South. Our own very unequal battle with nature is now being fought out across Southern Europe and the Mediterranean in particular.
That is the new reality of climate change. Greece and many of our friends and neighbours around the Mediterranean now face challenges similar to those of the countries that have preceded us at the sharp end of the climate crisis. And like those countries, we need a much more coordinated response. In Greece, we have pumped hundreds of millions into mitigation. We introduced our first ever climate law. and we are driving ambitious proposals with a view to decarbonizing our islands. We are partnering with multinationals in the pursuit of new green technology. We are investing heavily in renewables, because given our natural assets of wind, sun and sea. the potential is huge. Yet while we are acting decisively on long-term mitigation, we are collectively guilty of not placing enough emphasis on short-term adaptation, even though the task of becoming more resilient is about making changes today, not tomorrow. After all. the crisis is already here. It is affecting our lives today, and it is already having a significant impact on our economies.
For the European Union, that represents a failure of financial resourcing as well as of policy. We are spending peanuts on adaptation and emergency relief. We have two funds that are completely depleted, and that must change. That is why. earlier this week. I wrote to the leaders of Croatia. Cyprus. France. Italy. Malta. Portugal. Slovenia and Spain, which, along with Greece, make up the group of nine Mediterranean and southern European Union countries known as the EUMed 9. In my letter I suggested two solutions to the short-term adaptation issue. The first was that we should recognize that circumstances now demand that we act outside the EU’s long-term budget framework and State subsidy rules. The second was that we should lead EU- wide efforts to define and implement a comprehensive, properly resourced strategic plan that addresses the new challenges we are now facing.
But this is not just about Europe. After all. the problems facing Southern Europe and North Africa are no different from the issues faced by Canada this summer, or indeed by Pakistan last summer, when that country also suffered from catastrophic floods. That is why I am calling for the creation of a global adaptation alliance — a forum through which we can deliver new collective thinking, renewed cooperation and access to new finance to drive short-term adaptation before it is too late. It could enable us to invest more, for example, in sharing new technology for advanced forecasting and modelling, so that we can predict with greater clarity and accuracy how climate phenomena are going to behave. It could inform us about where the floods are coming from and where the fires are going. We will therefore push for the inclusion of an adaptation alliance at the upcoming twenty-eighth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in the United Arab Emirates. Because only by working together can we make a real difference, not just by learning lessons from one another but by sharing best practices and solutions.
Take Greece’s early-warning emergency number. 112. During the devastating wildfires in my country five years ago. it did not exist. An entire seaside town was razed to the ground and more than 100 people perished. We learned from that mistake — we put it right — and this summer the 112 number played a huge part in minimizing the loss of life. What difference. I wonder, would such an emergency number have made in Maui during the devastating Hawaiian fires — or in Libya, for example? It is exactly those sorts of relatively cost-effective solutions that represent the type of technological adaptation that we need globally going forward, through simple yet life-saving ideas. All of this is critical because at the end of the day our number one obligation is the protection of human life.
Let me turn to the second great challenge of our time, migration. My country is at the forefront of the global migration crisis. Greece has. over the past decade, provided shelter and protection to hundreds of thousands of refugees and asylum seekers. Our coastguard has gone above and beyond to save tens of thousands of lives at sea. Let me be clear: Greece will always be an open and welcoming country for those fleeing persecution and violence, as well as those economic migrants who however seek a new future by accessing legal pathways. After all. our economy is growing again, we are attracting significant foreign investment, and there are many job opportunities in my country. But we also need to fill those vacancies on our own terms, not those set by the criminal gangs. That is why it is critical that the international community work together to establish a far more comprehensive and coordinated approach — one that addresses the root causes of migration, one that more effectively counters human trafficking and migrant smuggling and fosters legal pathways to mobility.
With regard to managing the root causes of migration, we must challenge the negative political, socioeconomic and climate trends at source, in the countries of origin, but also the countries of transit. That means more tailor-made, innovative, multi-stakeholder partnerships to drive forward sustainable development and strengthen resilience, creating jobs and opportunities in the places of origin. No one wants to leave their homes and risk their lives finding work thousands of miles away. In real terms, that is about investing in infrastructure, in education, in health care and in the green and digital transition, all of which can reduce poverty, unemployment and inequality. And it is about creating incentives for private-sector development. It is about supporting entrepreneurship and small businesses, while always promoting good governance and women’s empowerment.
When it comes to migration. Greece’s policy is tough but fair. We are focused on preventing irregular migration and improving the effectiveness of return systems. But we are also focused on facilitating safe, orderly and legal migration, while processing asylum claims expeditiously. This issue is not going away. Indeed, in recent weeks there is evidence across the Mediterranean that the pressure on our borders is. unfortunately, growing again. That is why preventing departures must be the starting point. We must break the business model of the traffickers and their networks if we are to stop people from embarking on such dangerous journeys. Working together, bilaterally and multilaterally, we must strengthen border controls and surveillance mechanisms to detect and intercept smugglers and their activities. And we can do that, through the use of advanced technology, intelligence-sharing and cooperation among border control agencies. And we must enhance the capacity of law enforcement to investigate and prosecute those responsible for profiting from human despair, as well as disrupt the money networks through the strengthening of tools to identify and freeze traffickers’ assets.
We need a whole-of-route approach, raising public awareness of the dangers posed by the smuggling routes. At the same time, as I said, we must provide legal pathways through family reunification, humanitarian visas but also labour mobility, something Greece has done with new bilateral agreements with countries such as Egypt and Bangladesh. But above all. if we want to solve the problem in the Mediterranean, we must work together with our partner countries — Türkiye. of course, but also our North African neighbours.
Let me turn to Greece’s relations with its eastern neighbour. Türkiye. but let me do so in the spirit of openness. Rather than looking at the past. I want today to look to the future. Undoubtedly, long-standing geopolitical tensions between Greece and Türkiye remain. Our two greatest shared challenges, however, climate change and migration, are of the present and of the future. I told President Erdogan just that when we met yesterday. Do not get me wrong — our main
difference over the delimitation of our maritime zones in the Aegean and the eastern Mediterranean is and remains extremely important, but it can be resolved in accordance with international law. and in particular the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and in the spirit of good neighbourly relations. We have made good progress over the past months in terms of normalizing our relationship, and it is in our mutual interest to continue down that path.
Turning to Cyprus, that remains, unfortunately, at its core, an issue of an illegal invasion and occupation, in violation of the fundamental principles of the Charter of the United Nations. Our commitment to Cyprus’ sovereignty, territorial integrity and the solution of one State based on a bizonal, bicommunal federation is steadfast. It is a matter of credibility and determination to defend the core values and principles upon which the United Nations is based. Finding a fair, viable and mutually acceptable solution to the Cyprus issue remains a top priority for Greece. And we will continue to fully support the United Nations-led efforts to facilitate the resumption of negotiations, always on the basis of the relevant Security Council resolutions.
I have addressed two of the three most important concerns we share today as a global community. Let me end by quickly addressing the third.
Last year in this very Hall most of us condemned Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine — an act of blatant aggression that has shattered the inviolability of a sovereign border and has cost so many innocent lives. Overall, the international community has stood firm against Putin’s provocation and disastrous attempt to rewrite history. Today, however, the assertion on Russia’s part is that NATO, the EU and the other partners that support Ukraine will eventually lose the stomach to continue that fight. Let me be clear: that should not happen and that will not happen. We will never walk away from Ukraine, because to do so would be to abandon the very principles of peace, democracy and adherence to international law that so many in this Hall hold dear. That message was sent out loud and clear by the leaders of the whole Balkans region, on 21 August, in Athens, at the regional summit we hosted together with President Zelenskyy.
In conclusion, whether the issue is addressing climate change, managing migration or fighting the threat to our democratic way of life, all the challenges we face are daunting. We have said many times, failure is not an option. True leadership will be required by all of us. We cannot just sit idle and hope for a miracle. I have the privilege of leading a mid-sized country that is trying to do its best to address issues of massive complexity, but it is time for the really big players to step up to the plate and deliver.