Mitsotakis: Europe striving to handle pandemic without eroding fundamental freedoms
The coronavirus pandemic presented Europe with challenges that had never been faced before and the need to deal with them without undermining fundamental freedoms, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis noted on Wednesday, in his address to an online meeting of Council of Europe foreign ministers organised by the Greek CoE presidency.
"Unfortunately, due to the pandemic we had to deal with things in a different way and during the previous months, Europe was called upon to try to find solutions to a problem that had never been faced before. That of how to handle an unprecedented, lethal and unfortunately ongoing healthcare crisis without undermining our fundamental freedoms," he said.
Mitsotakis also noted that the 47 member-states of the Council of Europe were at the same time making efforts to counter fake news related to the health crisis and to present proportional solutions to the problems that arise, without restricting human rights.
The 130th meeting of CoE foreign ministers was hosted by the foreign ministry in Athens, with largely remote participation due to the pandemic, and focused on human rights and democracy in a time of pandemic.
