The Minister of National Defence Mr. Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos participated in the Informal Meeting of European Union’s Defence Ministers which was held on Wednesday the 12th and Thursday the 13th of January 2022, in Brest, France.
In yesterday’s session, a Working Lunch was held which was also attended by NATO Secretary General Mr. Jens Stoltenberg and by the Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations of the United Nations Mr. Jean-Pierre Lacroix. The topics of the discussion were the cooperation of the EU with NATO and the United Nations, the developments in Ukraine and the activities of paramilitary mercenary organisations in African countries, Ukraine and other countries.
Today, Mr. Panagiotopoulos participated in Sessions regarding the Current Affairs of the EU and the protection of EU’s strategic interests in space.
In addition, the Minister of National Defence participated in a joint Working Lunch of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defence of the EU member-states in Brussels, where they exchanged views on the revised draft of the “Strategic Compass” of the E.U. In his interventions, he underscored that we fully share the concerns caused by the expansion of the action of mercenary and paramilitary organisations in the Sahel and in other areas which are important for the defence and security of the E.U. The general objective should be to halt the activities of these organisations and the governments should directly face their responsibilities regarding their selection of partners.
He also stressed that Greece supports the dual-track approach with Russia on the condition that the dialogue fully complies with the principles of International Law and that it is held in a climate of de-escalation. Greece takes under serious consideration the challenges and threats faced by Ukraine and other partners and allies in the wider region of Northern and Eastern Europe, and it fully supports their activities to defend their territorial integrity, sovereignty and sovereign rights.
Regarding the Strategic Compass, he underscored that it is the means for the creation of a Joint Strategic Culture and it should take under consideration the security challenges and threats faced by every member-state of the Union, including the situation in Eastern Mediterranean according to the threat analysis on which the Strategic Compass has been based.
At the sidelines of the Meeting, Mr. Panagiotopoulos had bilateral meetings with the Defence Minister of France Ms. Florence Parly and the Defence Minister of Lithuania Mr. Arvydas Anuskauskas where they discussed topics of mutual interest.
