On Tuesday, 7 May 2019, the Alternate Minister of National Defence Panos Rigas made an address at the 7th ANNUAL EXPOSEC-DEFENSEWORLD CONFERENCE, DEFINING A MODERN DEFENCE AND SECURITY STRATEGY, which took place at the Armed Forces Officers’ Club in Athens, and stated the following:
“I am invited today to address the attendants, in my capacity as Alternate Minister of National Defence, at the 2019 EXPOSEC-DEFENSEWORLD Conference titled “Defining a Modern Defence and Security Strategy”.
The ambassador, Mr Geoffrey Pyatt acknowledged earlier Greece’s stability role in the wider region, while the Greek Minister of National Defence, Mr Evangelos Apostolakis clearly described the strategy we follow with caution and persistence in recent years.
This systematic effort has not only made our country a factor promoting peace, but also a guardian of the International Law rules, showing our faith in them, as the right method of international and partial disputes’ resolution.
I am certain that later on, Admiral Kyriakos Kyriakidis, the Director of the General Directorate for Defence Investments and Armaments of the Ministry of National Defence, will provide satisfying answers, as well as our new initiatives’ outline, pointing out and reminding that in recent years we revived a decisive factor of the national economy, that of Defence Industry. In this effort, we tried to give the General Directorate for Defence Investments and Armaments a dual role. On one hand, the role of the central supervising agency among the state companies and on the other hand, the role of the “coordinator” among all domestic industries, private and public.
So, as a Ministry, we manage to form a complete picture, regarding both the requirements of the Armed Forces and the international trends, as well as the field of research and production activities of the domestic defence industry in total.
Outreach is the new bet that the Hellenic Defence Industry is called to win. We facilitate the establishment of Greek companies’ joint ventures, we participate in international competitions, we support independent as well as collective efforts in many ways, we support the Greek businessmen who demonstrate activity in this field. We jointly create and promote a new national product.
When were all of the above implemented?
In the midst of two big crises, that of the refugees and the financial one, which troubled our country, and at the same time, in the midst of geopolitical changes in our region, with the limited financial capabilities which the economic recession imposed. The country went through a very difficult period, it experienced 25% cuts on its GDP during 2010-2014, it experienced the rise of unemployment to 30%. Nevertheless, through the sacrifices and the firm effort made mostly by society, we managed to finally achieve the coveted escape from the eye of the storm.
Greece finally experiences the positive side of the definitive disengagement from the programmes of strict financial policy. We are facing a new beginning and we have the conditions to make things better. We have put the period of Memoranda behind us, because we struggled, we dared, we fought and we compromised. But most of all, we worked hard and managed to put an end to the vicious circle of austerity, with society rising to the occasion.
Today Greece is one of the protagonists of the international arena, it is the reliable partner, the ally which you can trust, because, inter alia, it has proved its value. The country’s comeback is a fact. In this context, the content of today’s conference, under the general title “Defining a Modern Defence and Security Strategy” acquires even greater significance.
The previous session dealt with the “Geopolitical reorganisations in Eastern Mediterranean and Greece’s role regarding the promotion of stability and security in the wider region”. The one that follows is titled “High value investments through productive cooperations”. During the last two decades and even earlier, we have witnessed, among other changes, the gradual transformation of defence and security doctrines. This transformation sometimes follows and possibly dictates the developments in international relations.
The increasingly internationalised structures regarding economy and also the intergovernmental cooperations, combined with the developments in technology, constitute a new defence and security setting. In this context, what is the element that unites the two separate sessions? What connects the geopolitical developments with investments and productive cooperations and how can all of the above fit in the mapping of a Modern Defence and Security Strategy?
The answer to this question is the common goal we are called to serve. The goal can be no other but stability. All actors, whether it be financial, political or military have and are obliged to have a common goal, because each of them separately and all of them together, as a total, can benefit from stability.
Since we all agree that the requested objective is stability, then I have the feeling that we are describing the main player of the game. The player is no other but the state, the modern national state.
No matter the analysis, the ideology, the definition we choose for the meaning of the state or for the role it fulfils or it must fulfil, we will always end up in the same conclusion:
The states remain the protagonists, the guarantors of stability. The participation in international coalitions and the closer look and broadening of alliances separately help every state to improve its status, but all the same, the states remain the basic material upon which global construction is based. The strengthening of the states’ stance in the universal environment constitutes their decisive choice and an important pursuit, so that losing control of traditional domestic functions is not only limited, but also each state acquires new functions at a supranational level.
Still, what makes the nation-states strong? Only the alliances and their international stance? Does military power mean nothing? Of course not. But both military power and the developed international alliances make the states powerful mainly abroad. Domestically they still lack strength and this is exactly what the objective should be, meaning the strengthening of each state domestically. As long as the state is powerful domestically, it will remain a reliable interlocutor at an international level.
There is a risk at this point: Some may mistake that requirement for introversion. We have plenty and recent examples in our region and also in Europe of states isolated inside their borders, states that seek opponents, raise actual walls and obstacles in terms of diplomacy and concoct imaginary enemies, finally being cut-off from the international community, in the name of their domestic coherence.
World history is full of examples, to remind everyone that such cases of coherence not only lasted for a short period, but also produced catastrophic results, ending either with wars or regional upheavals, whose outcome has an impact even now. The domestic, or in other words, the social coherence is the most powerful weapon that the states possess, their societies themselves, the political and financial elite, which is called to manage the current circumstances.
The coherence of each society never imposed itself through limitations of personal freedoms and rights. It was never achieved through concocting imaginary enemies. It was always a case of peaceful coexistence. It is a part and, at the same time, the realisation of Democracy. It presupposes that there is faith in values, in principles of Law, in the acknowledgment of personal and social rights, in the freedom of action, without exclusions.
Our priority is a peaceful and secure international environment, with a Democracy that struggles to mitigate conflicts and inequalities. Inequalities are the biggest challenge for the European progressive powers. Facing them and the assurance of social coherence, should be the focus of a political plan of the European Left and Social-Democratic Parties, which will deal with the major social issue of the present juncture.
That is, how the social classes in Europe, as well as worldwide, that have suffered the financial crisis and globalisation and that have been pushed away or abandoned, will be able to be incorporated again in a new social contract, which, on one hand, will include perspectives of improvement regarding citizens’ quality of life and on the other hand, it will secure equal participation rights with regard to the produced wealth, in a framework of an equitable development and democratic representation.
Greek society is nowadays more experienced and possesses greater knowledge. We recently won a battle and we now realise that we need a development plan, which should cover the needs for both the stimulation of economy and the production of wealth that will be distributed to society.
Our government, SYRIZA’s government, claims that it has got this plan. For us, development means new incorporation of economy to the global work distribution, creation of economy with productive specialisation, treatment of welfare state’s wounds, a wide range of productive activities, a business spirit that is oriented towards the production of viable and properly paid jobs.
In the framework of this plan, the Hellenic Defence Industry is a real productive force with development perspectives, on the basis of our country’s comparative advantages. It is a dynamic field of the Greek economy, being not only viable but reliable as well, achieving competitiveness and having the perspectives to step into the international markets.
I wish this conference contributes in shaping a modern defence and security strategy, in promoting the mutually beneficial cooperation among our states and in strengthening our ties even more.
I am confident that the views expressed and the interventions made will further pave the way for cooperation and outreach. As a State, we support such actions and contribute in the reinforcement of every initiative for development.
Thank you”.
