Today, Holy Wednesday 15 April 2020, the Minister of National Defence Mr. Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos participated in a virtual NATO Defence Ministers Meeting.

During the Meeting the Ministers examined the manners and means the Alliance can contribute to the support of member-states in the face of “Covid-19”, as well as the short-term and long-term consequences it could bear on the security environment of Europe.

The Ministers agreed that the NATO defence and deterrence capabilities, in the face of all security threats and challenges, remain concrete, despite all measures taken to protect the personnel. Moreover, they ratified the recommendations of the Alliance to enhance the civil-protection structures of member –states and assigned military authorities with the task to process proposals for the further contribution of military forces to the support of public health systems, mainly by being ready to evacuate patients and transfer medical equipment. Simultaneously, they agreed on the necessity of the Alliance to examine the development of new operational plans to manage a pandemic such as the “Covid-19” pandemic, by drawing on the relative experience of member-states.

The Minister of National Defence briefed the Alliance on the contribution of the Hellenic Armed Forces to the battle against the pandemic in Greece, and then highlighted the negative consequences of migrant flows from Turkey combined with the outbreak of the virus, and called the Alliance to contribute with additional forces to the allied activities tackling the issue of migration in the Aegean.

Mr. Panagiotopoulos stressed the fact that the pressure exercised via organized migration flows on our Evros borders and the East Aegean islands, accompanied by a fake news campaign at international level, was tackled successfully and with determination by the Greek Government.