The Minister of National Defence Panos Kammenos participated in the European Union Foreign Affairs Council composed of Ministers of Defence and Foreign Affairs, where the progress made with regard to security and defence was examined in view of the European Council to be held from June 28 to June 29 2018.   
The Minister of National Defence highlighted that the European Union having third non-member states in the military cooperation programmes can not include states not recognizing the integrity of the European Union member states, whereas in the context of cooperation between the two organizations the participation of European Union member states in NATO activities should not be prohibited.
During the Council discussion, with the participation of the Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, he repeated that the two Greek officers are still kept as hostages for 117 days without any charge made against them and he concluded stressing that offensive behaviour in the Eastern Mediterranean area threatens the European stability.  He requested that the European Union and NATO take appropriate action, under their general authority.
He also mentioned that the NATO SNMG-2 operation in the Aegean should not only be continued, but its activities should also be extended to the Eastern Mediterranean Sea to address the refugee problem.  He also requested that FRONTEX becomes in practice a European Union border guard service and   undertakes not only the prevention of irregular immigration but also the return of refugees.