The Alternate Minister of National Defence Dimitris Vitsas in an interview he gave on Thursday 29 June 2017, on SKAI TV, to journalists Vasilis Lyritzis and Dimitris Economou stated, among other things:

Regarding whether the government considers the possibility for the Armed Forces to participate in the collection of rubbish:

Let’s expect what is best. The government voted for a legislation, we are launching a procedure of competition to hire permanent personnel and until then, contract employees, at least until March 2018, are will be employed and they will gain credits and age limits are abolished. None can overlook the constitutional legitimacy. None can say that all the contract employees can become permanent employees only by a decision of the government.
    
At this level, as long as the problem remains unsolved – I want it to be solved – every possible measure will be utilized to protect public hygiene. The Army cannot do anything by its own initiative. We wait for a reasonable decision to be made. Trade union leadership should find a way to end this situation. So, people will no longer undergo this discomfort-punishment due to actions which create a deadlock whether it is on purpose or not.

What I want is this strike not to be misused; and I would suggest it should not be misused as a chance to strike the government.

Regarding the issue of forbidding policemen to gather in Exarcheia:

When actions have a political purpose you have to respond in a certain manner. An image is being created and an effort of destabilization is being made. Instead of discussing how the problems policemen face can be solved today after the financial evaluation when we can improve our financial situation, the Federation of Policemen seems to want to solve, in this manner, a problem which they consider that is about the police not being allowed to gather in Exarcheia, and, thus, they make a political move. There are no forbidden areas and the Police have political leaders and police leaders as well.

Regarding the ship ΝOOR 1:

There is a case in which mafia is involved. A politician’s job is to defend the social interests with his actions, especially when this is about drugs, as long as he is not involved in illegal activities. Nobody stated that the Minister of National Defence committed an illegal act. There would have been a problem if someone had called a judge and had told him what to do.