The Alternate Minister of National Defence Dimitris Vitsas today Monday 13 February 2017, during an interview on REAL FM and to journalist Nikos Hatzinikolaou stated :
On the negotiations:
Our objectives are to close the evaluation on one hand, without taking any extra measures which will burden the society and find solutions so that Greece can enjoy a credits relief and have adjustments for the debt.
When it comes to negotiations all agreements have a level of mutual compromise. This practically means that if we want to find a solution in a common base procedure, and by common base is meant the fact that we are all in the EU and we are all seeking ways to put Greece out the way of memoranda and monitoring, I believe that we can find a solution. Of course this solution is of a political character since some time ago the discussion moved from a technocrat and economic-technical level to a political level , because all those required by the creditors, either on part of the IFM or by some creditors within Europe , are out of the agreement context.
Everything needs to be put back on the negotiation table and the jigsaw puzzle needs to be completed. For example, it is my opinion that at present , the way things are financially in the country, we cannot discuss the duty-free regime. Look at the example presented by the creditors, that 50% of Greeks do not pay taxes because of the duty-free regime. However, the same argument has its reverse version, meaning that 50% of Greeks lives with less than 700 Euro monthly. Trying to prove a point, they present the financial status of a great part of the population. If this 50% can live with 1000 monthly, then I will discuss the level of the tax-free regime.
I support what the Prime Minister and the Minister of Economy has stressed, that no agreement is concluded unless everything has been settled. One thing is the debt and the other is the growth rates and solidarity. Another thing is that the IMF needs to stop procrastinating and take a decision on whether they will remain in the program and how. All these are parts of the negotiation which can be resolved swiftly in order to complete the evaluation. I see very positively the remarks delivered by Mr. Junger concerning how the matter should be concluded, aiming to prevent a new crisis at Eurozone level.
There is a level of political agnosticism in relation to the several election results across Europe. It will not be to the benefit of Europe to have another financial crisis issue. This does not mean that because unreasonable things are asked of us we should do unreasonable things. We do not go along unreasonable things. We should go along our success, meaning that the creditors should be pleased with the deliverance of the program. It is the first time the program has delivered and in a sense they should cool it off a bit so that this super deliverance continues in the future.
With regard to the risk of a hot incident in the Aegean because of the Turkish provocativeness.
I will insist that we are doing what we should be doing, not what we are capable of, so what we are capable of is not our limit, so that we consolidate the national sovereignty and independence and the Greek people and their political life proceed with safety. Concerning your question, on one hand I am not afraid of a scenario of a hot incident, and on the other hand we have scenarios for all cases.
With respect to the armaments issue and their cost:
Since we all agree on the need to upgrade our fighter aircraft fleet , we all agree on the objective as well, because there is a threat risk, this kind of upgrade of the current fleet is within the standards of the budget for the next decade. I cannot answer with precision what it will cost, meaning that in 4-6 months we will receive a proposal on the exact amount. What I can certainly be sure of is that we are meeting all requirements and we are looking to the future.
We are not talking about adding another load but it is based on a ten-year program already included in the MoD budget , we will not spend an extra Euro. That means, if the MoD spends 400-500 million Euro annually, for maintenance, upgrade and purchase of new equipment, it will not spend more than that. The MoD is doing everything in its capacity to reduce the budget total by trying to increase the income from other sources, in the general effort to protect and relieve the Greeks.
In the MoD we keep our doors open to the political forces of the democratic arch. Only 2-3 days ago I proposed to the competent Parliament committee to commonly examine and discuss changes in the Regulation of the Parliament, to the extent that we reach a higher level of participation and classification, since the National Defence of a country concerns not a single party or two coalition parties but it is the case of the entire Greek nation .
