Following an invitation extended by his counterpart Mr. Panos Panagiotopoulos since October 2012, the Minister of Defence of France Mr. Jean-Yves Le Drian made an official visit to Athens on February 28 2013.
This meeting was an opportunity for the two Ministers to discuss the pattern of their bilateral military relations. Moreover, based on the initiative of EU’s “Pooling & Sharing”, they discussed various alternative capabilities for cooperation, pointing out the sectors of maritime surveillance, cyber-defence, training, spare parts’ supply and weapon systems’ maintenance.
Following the agreement on strategic partnership contracted in 2008, the two Ministers agreed on persevering with working on drawing up a defence agreement, which will be the framework of bilateral cooperation, particularly as far as the sector of operational capabilities and the exchange of know-how on defence reform issues are concerned.
In the context of this strategic relation, the two Ministers immediately decided to form a Franco-Greek committee consisted of staff officers from both Ministries. The committee will be assigned with the drawing up of an agreement for responding to the Armed Forces’ operational needs in the field of Naval Forces (particularly frigates) and the Hellenic Armed Forces’ operational armament maintenance.
In addition, they exchanged views on the international situation and the problems of the South-Eastern Mediterranean and North Africa. The French Defence Minister briefed on the situation in Mali and the international military presence there, as well as on the initiation of the European Union’s “EUTM Mali” mission, to which Greece contributes with the participation of four trainers.
The two Ministers stressed out that this particular action taken by the Europeans is an essential step towards forming “Europe of Defence” which they are both invited to strengthen.
The two Ministers also discussed the issue of preparing the European Council for December 2013 which will work on Defence issues, something that hadn’t taken place since 2008. Both Ministers perceive this Council as a great opportunity for the Europeans to take action in a particular way in this field, especially as far as matters relating to capabilities and industry are concerned.
