The Alternate Minister of Defence Dimitris Vitsas during an interview on ERT, Monday 31 October 2016, with journalists Giorgos Darakis and Giannis Darras, answering certain questions stated the following:
On the political situation:
“Think of a government which is trying to do the following : shake the malaises of the Greek political system, the most important of which being corruption and conflict of interests, since any conflict of interests entails corruption at a political, economic and social level. At the same time the government is faced with a battle against creditors, which means that it is necessary to adjust the debt, have a quantitative easing, enter a status of growth and allow investments from abroad to come. This is the government of SYRIZA, ANEL and the Ecology –Green Party. All this has caused an environment of confrontations, which we are experiencing today.
The battle against corruption should be interminable. We need to settle the issue of the Radio-TV licences. This does not mean that you automatically strike corruption but that you have a legality base, based on the Constitution and laws, on which the government, the people, and a society can base this battle. Today we are experiencing the following: We have a decision reached by the Council of the State. I respect this decision although I have a different opinion, in the sense that the Council of the State in other cases as well has followed another mentality, which is the law of necessity. In this case it followed the letter of the law but I respect that. Our priority is the establishment of the Radio and Television Council.
On the proposal of the government concerning the establishment of the Radio and Television Council:
The proposal of the government is to reach a consensus , as the government is making a proposal coming from the right wing. Other political forces may make their own proposals on which a consensus may be based. This is the most important thing because when we are talking about the Radio and Television Council these things go together. Consensus and finding the right people. It is quite clear. So, let the New Democracy Party make a proposal for the candidate chairman. We are open to this.
We had a right-wing proposal, and as a matter of fact yesterday the decision of the Political Council stressed the character of this proposal, aiming to find a consensus. Mr Mitsotakis may – allow me to joke – make a left wing proposal . Anyone who wishes to make a proposal on the candidates who are most appropriate for the Radio and Television Council, please do so and we will find a solution. However, what the opposition is demonstrating is that they do not want to find a solution.
Mr Mitsotakis has said in the past “you should leave so that smoothness returns to the country”. Does this mean to have channels without a licence? Does this mean to fire people in the public sector to solve the problem? Or to stop having a welfare state? To have procedures of corruption and conflict of interests? The legal paradox is that right now the law is void. As of January 1st we should have either limited-time licences or he should have put an end to the whole procedure. Whoever does not wish to establish the Council, and that is New Democracy with its attitude these days, actually wants to be amidst such a situation or in a status of utter absence of legality as far as the Radio and Television landscape is concerned.
We are not concerned with the proposed candidates but with the policies. The people proposed will be vetted and evaluated and the whole thing should lead to a consensus to an extent that has nothing to do with politics. We need decency. We cannot have a law as of February 2016 and not have a Council with it, to have previous years’ lessons learnt and still insist that the proposed candidates is the problem. Answering a question posed by Mr Voridis this is my answer “What aren ‘t they getting”? They understand alright, their practice so far is that they are not willing. They want to have procedures of corruption, illegality, hi-jacking and interest of conflicts. They still have to prove that they can direct themselves towards a procedure of legality.
On the Greek-Turkish relations:
Our sovereign rights are a fact. Point blank. They are non-negotiable. Whoever aspires to such procedures or has irredentist ambitions, on Turkey’s side, had better think differently. As a nation and as Armed Forces we have international legality and the political will and decisiveness to defend them. We are not claiming anything from anyone and we are not putting our sovereign rights on the negotiations table. We understand that Turkey is facing many problems in its eastern borders, however this does not mean that international treaties may be disputed.
Since a discussion is open on what once upon a time “used to be ours” or “used to be theirs” I want to say that there are geopolitical discussions, on the 99% of the planet, these things happen. These issues are not to be solved this way. All these, the Greek islands, before the Ottoman occupation and before the German occupation, are Greek, unless someone claims them for Byzantium or for ancient Rome. This may sound ridiculous but it is quite serious. We are closely watching with willingness and decisiveness. This causes other problems. This is why the 47 violations you mentioned in your question, were respectively managed with interceptions and this is a statement in all its substantial and legal sense, concerning our sovereignty. This causes tension which is not necessary for us or Turkey. These interceptions cost a lot. This money could be allocated for other purposes of the Armed Forces or the economy.
On NATO and the developments in the region:
We are part of the alliance. We are fulfilling, with our own policy, our respective obligations. We believe that at this point what the world does not need at all, including Greece, is tension. I am closely watching, and am very concerned, an effort under way to revive a cold war environment. We insist with our practices and procedures in saying that the diplomatic channel solves the problems, not the military one. An example is the triangles of Greece-Cyprus-Israel and Greece-Cyprus-Egypt and the agreement we are hoping to have, the forth-coming triangle of Greece-Cyprus-Jordan, all based on friendship and cooperation
We are concerned and at the same time we are proceeding with very specific steps. The summit in Rhodes and Athens are initiatives promoting the procedures of peace and this is of utter importance. The fact that Greece because of its geostrategic position is in a fully unstable region, must urge Her to want to be a pole of stability and mutual understanding among people. Today we cannot and must not live in an environment of chasing tensions and armaments. The war is not waged by canon themselves , however when many canons are gathered the risks are greater. Action is succeeded by reaction and then the game is lost. Take for example Syria, the war started on who will prevail in the interior, it became an international incident , an international war, in which the Islamic fundamentalism was involved, the whole region was destabilized, and the refugee wave towards Europe began flowing. Of course today we have forgotten why and how we got here.
On the refugee issue:
The great problem is on the islands. In order to relieve the tension we must soon proceed with the asylum issue, the return and relocation to other European countries procedures. The main problem is that we have not received the assistance expected following the EU-Turkey agreement. We do not want to turn the islands of the Aegean from reception islands to vast hot spots. We have to face the stance and the resistance of the Visegrad countries, which is of a strong ideological, political, and of values character. Look where the far-right mentality and ideology has taken us to. We have had a proposal to open our barren islands. Greece abiding by international treaties, the Geneva Convention, the human values, should shelter these people, host them and fight at diplomatic level to pave a legal way and mandatory distribution of the load to all parts of Europe. Also, Greece should contribute to an effort to stop the war in Syria. Towards this direction we should straighten some problems. In the interior there are no problems. There are 10.000 refugees sheltered in houses and hotels. However, we must pave the way. These people do not want to stay in Greece. We intend to further improve these services as well as the boarding procedures and the education of the refugees’ children.
On the MoD expenditure:
On one side there is NATO asking a specific percentage of the GDP to be allocated to defence expenditure, and on the other side the creditors insisting on further reductions. We insist on the following: Firstly, we are being threatened. Secondly, the budget as well as the balance sheet include apart from the expenses the income, too. Finally, the unutilized property of the Armed Forces must be utilized. If we use the 20% of the inactive assets for military purposes, with a 5% rent annually, we can achieve an extra income of €150-200 millions annually. We are holding talks on that. We can not reduce the wages of people serving in the Armed Forces, because we are talking about 700.000 people who already lost 30% of their income.”
