The handover-takeover ceremony between the outgoing and the new political leadership of the Ministry of National Defence was held today.
The outgoing Minister of National Defence, Ioannis Giagkos, stated the following in the handover-takeover ceremony:
“It would seem ironic to me to welcome the two Ministers to their Ministry. I would simply like to wish them and congratulate them on the assumption of their duties.
Mr. Minister, I would like once more to thank you warmly for the honour that you made me by proposing me to take the office of the caretaker Minister of National Defence. I hope that I did not fail to stand up to your expectations. I had, thus, the chance to be present at the field of the Armed Forces, even over a short while, at the field that I had been serving for 41 years.
Once more, I ascertained the high level of training of the Armed Forces’ personnel. They are characterized by professionalism, combat and leadership abilities, devotion to their duties and faith to the values and principles of Democracy. Moreover, the level of combat ability and operational capabilities of the Armed Forces is very high and this is due to the personnel and the leadership of the Armed Forces that handles difficult situations effectively, solves problems and, hence, everything works perfectly.
I wish to thank the Chief of HNDGS and the Chiefs of the Branches for the support they provided me over this short period of time and to congratulate them for the huge work they have assumed. In addition, I wish to thank the General Secretary of the Ministry and the three General Directors, for the excellent cooperation that we have had. They have valuable experience, everyone in his field. Finally, I wish to thank the Director of my office and the personnel that served in my office.
While leaving the Ministry, I wish to express my respect to the personnel of the Armed Forces and their families. They outdo themselves while performing their duties and they ensure our country’s territorial integrity and sovereignty rights.
Mr. Minister, I wish you good luck to the work you have begun so successfully”.
The Minister of National Defence, Panos Kammenos, stated the following:
“Mr. Minister,
Mr. Chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff,
Chiefs,
Deputy Chiefs,
Generals and Admirals,
Officers, NCOs and Privates,
Mr. General Secretary
Directors,
I would like to thank you for welcoming me, in particular. I believe that it is a great honour to take again office as Minister of National Defence, with which Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras entrusted me, with Mr. Vitsas as Alternate Minister of National Defence and with Mr. Tafyllis as General Secretary. It is important that our mandate has been renewed. The Greek people wisely chose and commanded the continuation of our work, of a work which began on January 25 and is being implemented by the orders of the General Staffs.
I am taking office from Minister, Mr. Giagkos, who has spent many years in this Ministry. It was an honour for us that he handled the issues of the Ministry of National Defence with total fairness, impartiality and special care towards the personnel, as a caretaker Minister over the last days. Our work will be continued according to the rules we had set from the beginning, without the presence of Deputy Minister Mr. Toskas, who took office as Minister of Citizen Protection. I wish to tell you that Mr. Toskas’ work will be continued. He has done a great job and we will ask for his help and contribution, as well as for the help and contribution of the General Staffs – because it was with the help of the General Staffs that this entire work was done – for the transformation of the Armed Forces, the saving of resources, the change of structure, when it is needed, in order not only to ensure resources, but, substantially, to make the operation of the Armed Forces more flexible.
At this point, I wish to state clearly that we will not care about the political cost. Caring only about the national interest and the best possible operation of the Armed Forces, we will do what we have to do. We have a long period of time ahead and a new mandate for the next four years. We will continue the policy that we set from the first moment, according to which competencies should be exercised by the Chiefs without any political interventions. We totally trust you. The time when promotions were decided inside ministers’ office is over. This is also the case about the procurements.
I wish to thank the Directors who are here today, as well as the military and civilian personnel, because over the past six months they proved, together with the Committee on Internal Affairs and the cooperation of all General Staffs, that 19 cases of corruption have been sent to the prosecution. Corruption was struck and it will continue being struck. We will not allow any obscure cases to exist in this sacred field of the Armed Forces; regardless of who is involved, regardless of where he belongs, regardless of how high a post he may have.
When I took office after the elections of the 25 January, I said that my first objective is to implement the decisions of the Council of State regarding the decrease of personnel in the Armed Forces. Unfortunately, over these six months, although we took the necessary action, by signing the Common Ministerial Decision and by ensuring the resources from the armaments and by sending the respective funds to the Ministry of Finance, we had a long delay of the Ministry for Citizen Protection and of the Ministry of Shipping because they had to co-sign it. However, we sent the decision to the Ministry of Finance and we made our effort until the very last day.
Our first objective, however, is to take care of this “open case” right away.
The second matter is the issue of the money for the benefit of service in the borderline areas. The first thing that I will do and the first document that I will sign today will be relevant to this issue. This money must be saved from any other activity. We will cut anything else, even the expenses of the Minister’s office. Everything will be cut so that the benefit will be paid immediately. This will be the first act that I will sign; the one that provides for the benefit of service in the borderline areas to be paid as soon as possible.
Thirdly, I want to assure you that our cooperation will be continued in a manner that ensures the interest of the Armed Forces, the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of our country with fairness towards everybody and respect to the heroes. I hope that Virgin Mary and the Patron Saints of the Armed Forces will stand by us and once more we will be able to deliver this Ministry, when Greek people commands us, having kept the country at least in the same condition, because this is our obligation. If I say “if not bigger” cameras will record it and other issues will be raised. Anyway, we do not forget that there is still the occupied territory of Cyprus; we do not forget that there are also Greek minorities who suffer in many places, such as Northern Epirus, Imvros, Tenedos, Istanbul, Asia Minor and the Black Sea.
Regardless of what policy will be followed, I wish to assure you that in the migration issue, about which you know that I did anything for the Armed Forces not to be engaged, we will continue this policy, by providing, of course, whatever may be necessary to facilitate the government, but by using also the geopolitical role of our country. Because I believe that this is the “key” for the solution of this problem: the return of the refugees to their home. I am particularly glad for the developments of this issue over the past days because now we see also historical adversaries, United States of America and Russia, starting talks within the United Nations and I hope that there will be a common decision to ensure the conditions for the refugees to return home.
I wish to assure you that the Ministry of National Defence, continuing an excellent cooperation within the Alliance, is at the disposal of the Alliance, as well as of the other friendly countries, if necessary, to intervene and take initiatives to this direction, along with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Beyond this, I believe that with the new migration policy of the European Union and with the decision to absorb migrant following a quota plan, a cooperation may be achieved in which we will contribute to prevent migrants and refugees from entering through the islands.
Finally, I want to assure you that the first objective of the government is to reinforce the defence industry. At a time when the Middle East and Northern Africa are actually in turmoil, there is a golden chance for Greece to reopen through cooperation and reinforce its state defence industry. We have international cooperation for which both the Alternate Minister of National Defence, the General Secretary and I have already worked hard, as well as the Military Leadership and the General Directorate of Armaments. We want to see again the Hellenic Aerospace Industry, the Hellenic Defence Systems, the Hellenic Vehicle Industry, as well as the private industries of defence materiel to become the “spearhead” that will take us out of this crisis.
On the issues of budget of the Ministry of National Defence we have ensured that the reduction of 100 million in this year and in the following year will come only from selling old materiel. I wish to assure that the preparation has already been conducted, we have also proceeded to contracts and agreements, and so the budget of the Ministry of National Defence will not be reduced not even by one euro.
As a conclusion, I wish to assure you that as long as we are here the personnel of the Armed Forces will not be reduced even by one person. If it is reduced by one person, then this person will be me. Let’s have a good cooperation. Thank you very much.
Mr. Minister, we will need you. We will need your advice and your experience. Along with the other Chiefs who served our country I believe that you will be the best advisers of the Political Leadership. Therefore, we look forward to cooperating with you.
I thank the Prime Minister for his confidence in me. I thank the Greek people because it the battle that we were giving over the past month was difficult. I wish to assure you all that we will honour the mandate that we were given in the best possible manner.”
The Alternate Minister of National Defence, Dimitris Vitsas, said the following:
“Mr.Minister, Mr.Giagkos, I would like, first of all, to thank you for your work over this short period of time. I watched it closely and despite the fact that this government was a caretaker government, you managed to make your own special contribution. I endorse what Minister, Mr. Kammenos, said, that we will need you at present and in the future for your advice, your knowledge and your abilities.
Mr. Chief of the HNDGS, Chiefs of all Branches, personnel of the Armed Forces, civilian and military personnel, ladies and gentlemen, we are here because people honoured our tireless efforts, our response to serve our homeland and our consistent pro European orientation based on the Greek spirit. But along with the honour they made us, they also assigned us a great responsibility. We assume the work of reconstructing our country. We must give it the position that it deserves in Europe and in the world by utilizing all its comparative advantages.
Every ministry has a certain mission, but I would say that the mission of the Ministry of National Defence is much more important. I will not say anything more than what Mr. Kammenos said. I wish to tell you that, first and foremost in our minds is the matter of the care for personnel. The second issue is the total reconstruction – if this is the correct term – of the Armed Forces which will be achieved with your help. The Armed Forces provide the security and the force of deterrence so that Democracy can function in the best possible manner. The main issue is to deliver our country better. This is the main issue.
A part, which usually belongs to the competencies of the Alternate Minister, is the private and public defence industries. I have been given the chance to speak in public many times. I said that, in order to make a productive reconstruction of your country, you need three reconstructions. One of them is the reconstruction of the public sector, the second one is the construction of the social sector of the economy, because there is not any, and the third one is the reconstruction of the private sector of the economy, so that it will be able to contribute, through products and services, to the increase of the participation of our defence industry to meet the needs of the Armed Forces. This is a key issue that you confronted over the last period of time. With less money we will achieve a better result. We can do it. With our efforts we will achieve not only that the participants will not be reduced, but that they will be increased as well.
At this point, I would like to say that the issue of unemployment will not be solved with tips, but through the creation of new employment posts throughout the economy. We have secured the necessary financing. We may increase the social contribution of the Armed Forces. As far as National Defence is concerned, the social contribution is related to performing their own duty. They must be helped, not only to keep up their already high level, but to increase their capabilities as well. And this is their social contribution.
I would like to wish good luck to everybody in their duties. And, of course, as it is usual here, there are no concrete work schedules. There is the main duty. Our country expects much from us. Thank you.”
