The Minister of National Defence Mr. Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos appeared today, Monday 16 December 2019, on the News of ANT1 Channel, commenting on current developments.
Regarding the skepticism in the North Atlantic Alliance concerning Turkey’s overall stance, the Minister underlined that there are concerns inside NATO, even though its leadership insists on the “equal distance” policy, which is unfair for Greece.
Mr. Panagiotopoulos explained that the Alliance has no penalty mechanism for the conduct of a Member-State and presented, in contrast to NATO’s stance, the fact that the US Secretary of Defence Mr. Mark Esper reproached the Turkish conduct, which undermines NATO’s cohesion.
According to his assessment, the procurement of S-400 systems, the intervention in North Syria, the Agreement with Libya, as well as its provocations against Greece lead to the marginalization of Turkey in NATO framework.
Replying to a question concerning the prospect of a “hot incident”, Mr. Panagitopoulos claimed that “we could not say that any contingency is out of the question, including a hot incident, however we are working towards maintaining a significant deterrent power”. In addition, he stated that Greece is doing its job and that it is not alone in this game; it has Allies who scrutinise and assess.
When asked what would the reaction be, should a Turkish drill access a spot of national interest, the Minister of National Defence explained that the necessary actions to defend Greece’s sovereign rights will be taken, something also avowed by the Prime Minister.
Regarding defence expenditure, Mr. Panagiotopoulos stated that, after a decade of harsh financial crisis and budget cuts, we have reached a time for decision-taking and fast moves. He reminded that a Law for the upgrade of the F-16 combat aircraft, the support of the “Mirage” and the excess materials of submarines was adopted.
“Defence expenditures in the 2020 Budget are at the same level, even though we are trying to bolster it up”, he underlined and also noted that a prioritisation is being made according to the needs of each branch and the demands are presented to the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of Finance. “The time has come to upgrade the Armed Forces’ armaments”, he declared.
As far as the rumours on the increase of military service are concerned, Mr. Panagitopoulos underlined that the Armed Forces need smart and prompt moves. “It is better to hire military personnel, such as Short Term Re-enlisting Privates and Professional Conscripts, than to increase military service”, he commented.
