The Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament Zoi Konstantopoulou paid an official visit to the Ministry of National Defence where she was briefed by the Political and Military Leadership.

The Minister of National Defence Panos Kammenos welcoming the Speaker of the Parliament stated the following:

“Ms. Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament, on behalf of the political leadership, of the Alternate Minister Mr. Isychos, of the Deputy Minister Mr. Toskas, of the Secretary General, in the presence of the military leadership, the Chief of Hellenic National Defence General Staff General Kostarakos, the Chief of Hellenic Navy General Staff Vice Admiral Apostolakis, the Chief of Hellenic Army General Staff Lieutenant General Tellidis, the Chief of Hellenic Air Force General Staff Lieutenant General Vaitsis, of the deputy chiefs, of the generals, we welcome you to the Ministry of National Defence. It is a great honour for us that the third political leader in order and Speaker of the Parliament visits us on the assumption of duties.

We wish to assure you that the Ministry of National Defence, the political leaders, we want a close cooperation with the Hellenic Parliament, with the Committee on National Defence and Foreign Affairs and the proposal we make you is to hold briefings every two months in this room, which will be confidential. We will make a step more forward than it was used in this room, because as you may understand here we have the possibility to exchange information more easily than in the Parliament. Our presence in the Parliament should be taken for granted in both Parliamentary Control and Legislative Work and definitely there will be a close cooperation with the Committee on Armaments.

We prepared a briefing for you classified as secret about matters regarding National Defence, the current condition of the Hellenic Armed Forces and then we will have the honour to inform you about the National Operations Centre because your institutional role is now very important and requires that you are directly informed about how the Hellenic Armed Forces work twenty four hours a day under difficult circumstances, with self-denial.

I wish to assure you that the Armed Forces’ morale is very high, the battle-worthiness of the Armed Forces is excellent and the close cooperation, in a Democracy, between the Armed Forces, the Hellenic Parliament and the Greek people is necessary mostly in such periods where some want to threaten our national sovereignty and many times our territorial integrity. I welcome you and thank you for your visit.”

The Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament, after thanking the Minister of National Defence stated the following:

“Minister, I thank you, the Alternate Ministers and the military leaderships for the honorary invitation and the warm welcome. I gladly accepted your invitation because indeed I believe that issues regarding the Ministry of National Defence are issues which affect and depend on the interests and rights of the Greek people which the Parliament must represent. Your proposal is not only interesting, it is most welcome and it is a proposal to that promotes both transparency and effectiveness for a regular, thorough briefing of the Parliament about issues of the Ministry of National Defence. This cooperation is much more required in the field of the Committee on National Defence and Foreign Affairs, but also particularly – allow me to stress this – of the Committee on Armaments of the Parliament, this special committee which is comprised of members of the Committee on National Defence and Foreign Affairs. I would like to inform you in my turn that the Committee on National Defence and Foreign Affairs has already been formed, wheras the Committee on Armaments is still under creation. You will allow me to express a wish. Following the initiative that I have taken as Speaker of the Parliament to create a Committee on the Accounting Control of the Debt, I think that the contribution of the Ministry of Naitonal Defence will be very useful with regards to all those armament programmes cases which must be checked and considered in relation with credit obligations assumed by our country in times when public money was spent in an improvident and wasteful manner.

I wish to assure you that in my turn I fully trust the morale and patriotism of women and men, you will allow me to emphasize on women since recently was the International Women’s Day and yesterday we held an honorary event in the Parliament. I know that you and the leadership of the Ministry of National Defence will boost this morale with your example and I wish there is always will for a direct and good cooperation of the Ministry with the Parliament”.

After the briefing, the Minister of National Defence made the following statement:

“We had the honour and pleasure to host today, following an invitation we had addressed, the Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament, the third political leader in order. We informed her together with the leadership of the Armed Forces about issues regarding the Ministry of National Defence, the country’s defence, the situation in which we are today and soon we will have the possibility to visit together the National Operations’ Centre. In a Republic, in a democratic Republic, the close cooperation between the Hellenic Parliament, the Ministry of National Defence and the Armed Forces is necessary.

In peace time, when Parliamentary Control, the control on armaments’ spending, the control on the democratic function within the army is conducted via the Hellenic Parliament, but also in crises, when the Speaker of the Parliament, when it is necessary, replaces the President of the Republic in the decisions which are made about the Armed Forces.

I would like to welcome the Speaker of the Parliament, to thank her particularly for honouring us, the Armed Forces and the political and military leadership, to assure her that the Armed Forces have a very high morale, readiness and what we want to do, Ms. Speaker, is to make the Greek people to celebrate the national holiday with the Armed Forces and send a message of national sovereignty in the parade of March 25th, which will be held without any iron bars this time.

To hold a parade of the Armed Forces’ personnel and have the Greek people standing by them and send from Syntagma Square a message that we are united and we do not compromise our national sovereignty, whether this compromise regards constitutional rights which you protect or violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty rights which the Armed Forces defend.

Thank you very much.”