The Standing Committee of Foreign Affairs and Defence of the Hellenic Parliament met today at the Ministry of National Defence for almost 7 hours, on the subject: the New Structure of the Hellenic Armed Forces.
The Minister of National Defence Mr. Panos Panagiotopoulos, the Chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff General Michail Kostarakos, the Chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff Lieutenant General Athanassios Tselios, the Chief of the Hellenic Air Force General Staff Lieutenant General (AF) Evaggelos Tournas and the Chief of the Hellenic Navy General Staff Vice Admiral Evangelos Apostolakis presented the New Structure of the Hellenic Armed Forces to the MPs – members of the Standing Committee of Foreign Affairs and Defence.
After the completion of the meeting, Mr. Panagiotopoulos made the following statements to the journalists:
JOURNALIST: Mister Minister, the presentation of the New Structure of the Hellenic Armed Forces was just completed. Would you like to comment on the general framework, what does that new strategic planning involve?
P. PANAGIOTOPOULOS: For almost 7 hours we had the honour, me and the Deputy Ministers, but also the military leadership of the Armed Forces, to present to the Standing Committee of Foreign Affairs and Defence of the Hellenic Parliament the New Structure of the Hellenic Armed Forces.
The New Structure is the outcome of collective work by the diachronic Leadership of the Hellenic Armed Forces, by the General Staffs; it started since 2009 and it was completed in our days and we have the honour to present it.
First of all, I would like to thank everyone who has worked in this, whether they are on active duty in the Armed Forces nowadays whether they have retired. The current Leadership, the Leaderships that have preceded, today’s Staff Officers, the Command Structures, all that have worked with us so as to complete this project.
It is a project that has an aim and serves, before anything else, a supreme national deliberateness: to have, as Greece, Armed Forces of the 21st Century, directed towards the National Defence Doctrine, the Policy of National Defence and the ultimate duty to shield the country’s sovereignty, integrity and independence in the most efficient way. This is what is served by the new structure, above and before anything else.
A basic characteristic is that with the new structure, the Armed Forces and all three branches become more functional, efficient and fast at performing the duty they have been charged with by the Hellenic people.
The Armed Forces’ combative units are reinforced and command structures are reduced where needed, in order to place emphasis on combat units.
If you wonder whether we are saving funds, of course we are. However, that was not the primary goal; the primary goal, and this is why it all started back in 2009, was to have more efficient and stronger Armed Forces, that would guarantee even more our country’s high deterrent power, efficiency and, of course, the great and high operational readiness.
That is something that can be achieved. We had the chance to present all aspects of this particular plan at the Standing Committee of Foreign Affairs and Defence of the Hellenic Parliament. As you can understand, we held a long discussion and we underlined that we are ready to return to the Committee immediately after the holidays, in order to draw the final conclusions.
JOURNALIST: Mister Minister, are we through with unnecessary military camps? Is an end put to redundant camps?
P. PANAGIOTOPOULOS: Listen, what is unnecessary must be finished with and the page must be turned. Before anything else, we must serve the goal of the Armed Forces. You comprehend that they guarantee the supreme benefit of national security and, without this guarantee, nor economy neither society can work. If the Greek people can nowadays focus on trying to reorganize economy, on trying to escape from the deadlocks of this financial crisis, this is due to the Armed Forces that first guarantee and shield national security, they consolidate and ensure the country’s sovereignty and independence, and immediately after, we should mention that, they have also assumed a historic burden, because of the budget cuts, so as the country will overcome the crisis.
Therefore, despite the cuts, the Armed Forces implement their New Structure, they enhance their readiness and effectiveness and they offer to the Hellenic People the supreme benefit of national security and protection of the country’s integrity, sovereignty and independence.
JOURNALIST: Thank you very much.
P. PANAGIOTOPOULOS: You are welcome.
