“We welcome you to the Ministry of National Defence, on a day which is difficult for the homeland, a day of mourning for our National Defence. Yesterday we lost one more hero of our Hellenic Air Force, Major Nikolaos Vasiliou, who fell in the line of duty and was admitted in the pantheon of heroes. The members of the Armed Forces, as you well know, exercise and prepare, in times of peace but in conditions of war. The officers, NCOs, conscripts and members of the National Guard, defend the national sovereignty and the territorial integrity of our country, all day and throughout the year, as well as democracy and the citizens, bearing a heavy burden for themselves and their families.

First of all, I would like to particularly thank the new Minister of Mercantile Marine, Aegean and Island Policy Mr Fotis Kouvelis for the excellent cooperation we enjoyed during the short period we worked together at the Ministry of National Defence, during this year which is devoted to personnel welfare, and the fights we gave in order to serve in the best possible way, with the assistance of the Special Secretary, the Armed Forces leadership, all of the officers, NCOs, conscripts and members of the National Guard, the mission which was assigned to us by the Greek people, through the Prime Minister.

We began our coexistence with a sad incident, the detainment of two members of the Armed Forces, which had a fortunate resolution. Minister, my wish is that at your new assignment, with which I am familiar, you will have the help of Saint Nikolaos. You are assigned to a Ministry, which has a really particular mission, apart from the safety of the sea, the environmental protection and the guarding of our borders, the major issue of our commercial shipping, our sailors, fishermen and all the people of the sea, the officers of the bridges and engine-rooms and the crews, who constitute our country’s most powerful ambassador.

We will continue to cooperate because the Armed Forces and the Ministry of Mercantile Marine, Aegean and Island Policy, especially through the Hellenic Navy, have a very special bond.

I would like to welcome the new Alternate Minister and I ought to say in public that in the past we had worked really hard together to establish this Government, a Government of national unity, a Government which  was given the public mandate and drove our country out of the era of memoranda and now assumes the duty, with this new composition, to pave the way for the Greek people to a new era. Our aim is to make the Greek people smile again, to be able to alleviate the suffering endured by the Greek people and the Greek families due to the financial crisis and the members of the Armed Forces are part of those people.
 
The members of the Armed Forces who unwaveringly saw their own income being greatly reduced. Our Staffs’ budgets, through the Ministry of National Defence have been limited to under 60% and nevertheless, their morale was never diminished, nor a complaint was ever heard, but we ought to give to the members of the Armed Forces, during this Year of Welfare, the fruits of their sacrifices during the hard period and restore the huge losses they suffered in the crisis. We will accomplish this very soon, now that through the efforts of the Greek people we have left these hard times behind us.

Alternate Minister, I would like to assure you that along with the Deputy Minister Maria Kollia we will have the opportunity to cooperate as political executives in the Armed Forces, where the natural leadership, the Chief of HNDGS, the Chiefs of the General Staffs, the Generals, the officers, the NCOs, the conscripts and the members of the National Guard have essentially the command, through the Chiefs, the best Armed Forces in the world, the most faithful and organised Armed Forces in the world, proving themselves in battlefields, either in exercises or through their presence in Alliances and out of Alliances, while at the same time they always stood, and will continue to do so, by the side of the citizens. I am certain that we will have an excellent cooperation.

I would like to welcome to the Ministry of National Defence Deputy Minister Maria Kollia with whom we have a close cooperation for more than twenty years. I want to welcome her because I am sure that coming from Thessaloniki she keeps Macedonia and Thrace close to her heart and a great part of the Armed Forces, especially the Army, is located in Thrace and Macedonia.

We had a close cooperation all these years. I am aware of her love for the homeland and her faith in the principles of Hellenism and I believe that along with the Alternate Minister, the Deputy Minister and the Special Secretary we will be able to continue our work during this year of Logistics and at the same time offer to the natural leadership of the Armed Forces and all their members the best we can as the political leadership, to facilitate their work in securing the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of our country.

So I bid you farewell dear Minister, dear Fotis. I welcome the new Alternate Minister and the new Deputy Minister. I wish that the Invincible Champion will stand by our side in our difficult mission”.

“To be sincere I have to tell you that my departure from the Ministry of National Defence is very emotional, having served for six whole months, at the post of Alternate Minister.

I feel the need to tell you that I witnessed with all of you the high morale, the effectiveness and the consistency in the execution of your duties. Elements which I wish to assure you that they have empowered my own volition and maybe my effectiveness in the execution of my duties.

Today is of course a day of grief due to the loss of one of our military members, of the late pilot Nikolaos Vasiliou. However, connecting the fact of the Armed Forces self-sacrifice, I feel proud for having served for six months in this Ministry.

I did not come in the Ministry with distrust. I came with an open heart and with volition, being certain that my duty would be essential. Minister, I ought to tell you that our cooperation was extremely honourable for the produced work in this six-month period.

I feel obligated to thank, from the bottom of my heart, the Chief of HNDGS Admiral Apostolakis and the other Chiefs, General Stefanis, Lieutenant General Christodoulou and Vice – Admiral Tsounis. All the staff officers, who with great consistency and accuracy supported and promoted this work.

I would like to especially thank the Special Secretary, Ms Papaleonida, because the Armed Forces also consist in great part of civilian personnel, which works systematically and tirelessly in order to promote the mission of the Armed Forces, our country’s defence, its force of deterrence, its success not only for the benefit of the Armed Forces but for the Greek people in general.

I am assuming my new duties with the best impressions and I would like to assure you that I will always carry with me the experience of this six-month service in the Ministry.

I also welcome the new Alternate Minister, Mr Panagiotis Rigas. We know each other for years and we are connected through a profound friendship. Dear Panos, I am certain that you will do your best for this Ministry, having very important and valuable associates.

Dear Deputy Minister, Ms Kollia – Tsaroucha, friend and associate in other fields for years, has capably served and keeps serving the capacity of the member of the Hellenic Parliament and the government in general. I am sure that the result promoted by your presence will be essential.

So, in this emotional state I salute you to assume my new duties and I sincerely wish to tell you that at this Ministry I saw transparent people, work, effectiveness and consistency.

Minister, this honours not only you but also me who had the opportunity to collaborate with these fine people.

I thank you and I welcome the new Alternate Minister and the new Deputy Minister”.

“First of all, I would like to express my deepest sorrow for the unfortunate loss of Major Nikolaos Vasiliou, pilot of our Air Force, who lost his life in the line of duty. I would like to offer my sincere condolences to his family, his close friends, as well as to all Air Force members, and to assure them from the bottom of my soul and heart, that the State is not going to forget his invaluable contribution to the country.

Regarding today’s handover ceremony, I realise the importance of the duty assigned to me by the Prime Minister of the country. At the same time, I feel obliged to thank the former Alternate Minister of National Defense – and the present Minister of Mercantile Marine, Aegean and Island Policy – because he had a difficult mission and he is prepared to take another very difficult duty over the next period. Fotis Kouvelis’ long term of service and contribution to society are known to us all, as well as his work all this time in the Ministry of National Defense.

My goal for the next period is to continue this work with your cooperation. I know very well, and I say this from the bottom of my heart, since I have ties with the Armed Forces, that command, chain of command and discipline are very essential features in this field, and rightly so. Nevertheless, I should point out that the corner-stone for all of us, in order to fulfill our mission, is the unhindered collective function and cooperation.

Both the Armed Forces of our country and the Ministry of National Defense are obliged to operate as a big, stable, deterrent force, especially in the hard times we live in, with the geopolitical tensions in the wider area being on the rise. In this direction, I assure you that we are currently taking and we will continue to take, as the government, all the necessary measures, with your invaluable contribution.

At the same time, the men and women of the Armed Forces demonstrate a great and selfless social contribution. Today, the Hellenic Armed Forces, in the difficult period we are going through, contributed and keep contributing, with an important social work. They proved it many times, with the latest example regarding their immediate contribution in the tragedy of Mati, and I am sure that they will continue to do so every day.

Our cooperation with the Minister, Panos Kammenos, during the time I had the honour, the responsibility and duty to be Secretary of SYRISA CENTRAL COMMITTEE, was honest and cooperative, despite our political differences and modus operandi in the past years. This I must honour, because we both decided and made a great and strenuous effort for the benefit of the Greek people. We did this selflessly and it will be judged by everybody. In any case, I would like to say that this honour has a special meaning regarding my presence here today with Panos Kammenos.

I would also like to say that by operating in this context we achieved lots of goals, with the basic one being our country’s final exit from the era of memoranda and the escape from the strangulation that was attempted on us. At the same time, we made a common effort, in order for the country to examine closely matters of Democracy. A Democracy, which in our country, suffered a great depreciation, with the choices made. Choices that did not allow us to define and do all those things that a state ruled by law, with a national status should do.

So, I believe this effort has been successful. The next day is completely different and everybody should contribute to this. From this day on, we must prove that the government, the ministries, everybody, are able, as a country and in a social framework, to surpass the crisis’ consequences and to find a way to develop the productive sources of Greece and our historic geopolitical role for the next period.

I do not wish to say anything else, but I would like to ask everyone to cooperate, during the period of the execution of my new duties, assigned by the Prime Minister, repeating once more that it is an honour for me. I believe that in this way, everyone will benefit along with the Greek people”.

“I am deeply honoured and I will try not to be moved, in order to tell you what is in my mind.

The Minister has already set the goal which we will continue to pursue, after we take over from the former Alternate Minister.

I thank the Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras and Panos Kammenos, as President of the Independent Greeks Party, for assigning to me the duty regarding a Ministry that deals with the country’s defence.

It is you, the Armed Forces, that keep in your hands Greek people’s safety, the Democracy, and through the Greek tradition and Orthodoxy, you command souls, people, you prepare the service men and women for whenever and wherever needed, to protect the sanctities of the nation.

I am honestly deeply moved. You will certainly have by your side a woman, who tries lots of years to cope with things and people through honesty and sincerity, fighting for her beliefs, principles and ideas, and this Ministry, as stated by others before me, is a step, which can give us the opportunity to develop, and I should say, give our best regarding the outcome, which is to serve the country and the Greek people.

Having Virgin Mary as our Protector and through the principles of Orthodoxy and Hellenism, the ones that you are taught in your Schools and serve till the end of your lives, you will have by your side a Deputy Minister, who will do her best.

I would also like to mention the late Major Nikolaos Vasiliou, who was killed in action yesterday. These are days of honour and remembrance regarding our deceased young aviator.

I will do my best, through Panos Kammenos’ wise and patriotic leadership, and of course that of the Alternate Minister, and with all of you, we will achieve the best possible results.