“It is with particular pleasure and satisfaction that today we welcome to the Ministry of National Defence my colleague, Poland’s Minister of National Defence, Mr. Antoni Macierewicz. His presence here, as well as the presence of the Polish delegation, of the Deputy Minister and his associates, marks the beginning of a new era for the defence relations of our countries, allies in NATO and partners in the European Union. Let me remind that this is the first visit of a Polish Minister of National Defence since 1992.

Greece and Poland are connected by long ties of friendship and mutual respect which were forged in difficult times for both our peoples. Greeks and Polish fought together in World War II and our Armed Forces were distinguished for their gallant action in the combat for freedom and independence. Thousands of Polish and Greeks of Jewish and Christian religion became victims of the Nazi brutality in the concentration camps of Auschwitz, Birkenau, Treblinka and elsewhere.
 
Our countries, as members of the European Union and the NATO, are determined to not allow any more holocausts and genocides in our continent.

Today, the historical bonds have been reinvigorated by the presence of Polish nationals in Greece who chose it as their second homeland and live and work in a harmonious coexistence with Greek nationals looking for a better and safer future for everyone.

Today, the Minister and I completed the processing of the framework agreement for our defence cooperation which includes a large field of action, from the training in exercises to the cooperation in defence industry. Specifically, Poland and Greece are signing an agreement that includes 21 fields and will be applied as soon as the formal parliamentary procedures are completed.

I wish to thank in particular the Minister because, in the context of the joint cooperation to deal with migration, he announced me today that Poland will assign a frigate in the NATO force which will participate in NATO operations on the Aegean Sea, as well as a squad of medical support for refugees and migrants.

In parallel, we discussed about the Summit in Warsaw. The Summit will be preceded by communication between the two Ministries about the possibility of cooperation in the field of submarines 214 which are today manufactured by the Hellenic Navy at Skaramagka shipyards.

We discussed about the exchange of intelligence in the framework of NATO’s new structure of Intelligence Services and we agreed that particular importance has been given by the Alliance to the 360 degree approach, that is the reinforcement of the Alliance’s southern sector focused on Greece, as well as the cooperation of all southern countries in the northern part of the Alliance.

I welcome him once more and I believe that with today’s meeting a new era begins for the Greek-Polish relations. Welcome”.

JOURNALIST: Could you provide us some clarification in relation to what you said about the salaries of military officers in the Parliament? Thank you.

P. KAMMENOS: Things were made clear yesterday by the Prime Minister. The personnel of the Armed Forces and the Security Corps, as well as the diplomats and judges, have paid enough with their salary reductions; In particular, however, the personnel of the Armed Forces and Security Corps.

It is government’s decision that they cannot pay more and that a restitution of the salaries the Armed Forces’ personnel is required. We, as Ministry of National Defence, had been prepared several days ago; we even submitted the budget headings from which we can counterbalance the required amount which was asked to be reduced from the personnel of the Armed Forces. As you saw, the Prime Minister too, in his personal speech stated that, apart from the financial data that our ministries will cover for those who cannot cover it, these 118 million will be covered by the surplus, which will be used as a social resource.
 
 As Ministry of National Defence, however, we can and we will cover the money that corresponded to us from various budget headings, mostly the ones appointed for armaments. There is nothing for the personnel of the Armed Forces to be afraid of and I would like to ask some clerks of the employment agency who evaded the army to stop writing strange stories on web pages.

When you, journalists and web pages, want to find information, you can be informed by actual officers, retired or active personnel, by the Hellenic National Defence General Staff, the General Staffs and the Ministry. The clerks of the employment agency may mind their own business.