Greek PM congratulates Donald Trump on Presidency

The letter also expressed Tsipras’s intention to deepen bilateral cooperation “for the benefit of our two peoples, peace and regional stability.”

The mixed reaction to Donald Trump’s ascendency to the presidency of the United States has had countries like Greece contemplating the consequences, if any, particularly with US policy towards issues like debt relief.

Trump has commented on Greece only a couple of times prior to his election, always dismissively. In the summer of last year, Trump said Greece’s problems are not for the US to solve but for Berlin and warned against US debt spiraling, pointing to an “unsalvageable” Greece.

Greek Government officials on Wednesday sought to play down the possible ramifications of the election of Donald Trump as US president vis-a-vis Washington’s stance on the prospects of debt relief for Greece, the Cyprus problem and Greece’s role in the broader region.

“Nothing suggests that the position of the new American government about the debt and Cyprus will change,” a government official said.

A government source added that Trump’s election would clearly lead to “changes on the US domestic scene and the international geopolitical system,” adding that Athens was “monitoring these closely.” The same source expressed concern over “issues relating to human rights and minority rights.”

Later in the day, a Tsipras aide conceded that one could not rule out the possibility of the new US administration “choosing to turn inward and downgrade the international interventionist role of the US.”

Rebuffing claims that the government failed to foster ties with Trump, the Greek Foreign Ministry said that during a visit by Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias to New York in September, George Papadopoulos, a Greek-American adviser to Athens, met George Tzitzikos, a Greek-American adviser to Trump.

Meanwhile Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Leader of the Opposition, weighed in on the issue of US-Greek relations saying that votes in the US have decided and that the election result out to be respected.

‘’ The US-Greek relations are very strong; they are geostrategicaly important relations and will not be affected by the elections result,” added Mitsotakis.