Today, July 2nd, a meeting was held at “Ioannis Kapodistrias” conference room in the Ministry of National Defence, chaired by the Minister of National Defence, Mr. Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos, between parties involved from the Permanent Structure Cooperation (PESCO) and the European Defence Industrial Development Programme (EDIDP).

During the meeting, a presentation of the results from the participation of our country in the European Defence Industrial Development Programme (EDIDP) was made.

Apart from Mr. Panagiotopoulos, the entire Political and Military Leadership of the Ministry of National Defence participated in the meeting, as well as staff officers in charge from the Ministry’s General Directorates and General Staffs and appropriate representatives from Greek companies that are leading European partnerships, which have been established and successfully competed for the EU funding of four programmes for the development of innovative defence systems.

During his speech, the Minister of National Defence underlined the importance of the success achieved following the cooperation between the Ministry, the defence industry, academic and research institutes. He also stressed the need for a specific result in the country’s interest.

The full text of the intervention made by Mr. Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos follows:

“Welcome and congratulations!

It gives us great pleasure to welcome you here with full representation from the General Staffs in order to congratulate you. This was done, so let’s move on to the next thing and determine how we should proceed from now on, because what happened was without doubt great, but it also raises the bar, thus giving rise to another kind of responsibilities and requirements.

I am aware that Greece’s success to obtain EDIDP’s approval of all four proposals submitted is certainly the result of years of hard work. It is not a yesterday’s case, nor have I come here to benefit personally on the account of the Ministry’s Political Leadership. On the contrary! Because, as you may have noticed, we have to take now crucial decisions in a very short time; to exit from a period of standstill or excessive dependence on words and announcements but of minimum actions. Now is the time to act. We should waste no more time; we should not let any more time to go like this. Therefore, now is the time to do some things.

As the Ministry’s Political and Military Leadership, we are fully realized and coordinated in this regard and we are moving really fast, because – as I told you, conditions are such that we should not let any more time to be wasted. Just as with PESCO, just as with EDIDP!

The point from now on is how the National success in the approval of all four proposals submitted in synergy with the private sector and the academic community under the approval of Staffs as regards the description of requirements will be translated into not just another research effort, but into a result; in other words, into a final product that will be placed at the disposal of the Greek Armed Forces as well amongst others with the consequences that this entails.

That is the reason why we took the initiative of inviting you here, in order to express your opinion. Bear in mind that as a Ministry, we would like to undertake a very intensive supervision on terms of synergy and assistance though and not strict control. Of course there should be control, but the Ministry is committed to support this effort and every part of it; however, a result should be achieved, because if there is no result, the damage caused by the stroke of luck that the proposals have been accepted will be much greater than the profit resulting from these proposals and possibly, the door that has now opened by the European Union, in conjunction with the much larger door to be opened during the following programming period – and you are aware of the huge number of budget lines that are about to be dedicated in the European Union’s Defence and Security, as a strategic focus – will be (this door) in danger of being closed, if no results be produced now.

Therefore, we have to ensure – every one from their own viewpoint by their own approach – that results will be produced from the research effort that will be made; results will be produced from the funding that these research efforts will obtain. I would like to remind you that a couple of months ago, we decided on setting up a Policy making group, staffed by Members of the Armed Forces reporting to the Minister’s office, in order not only to monitor the entire course of the funding and EU funding opportunities, but also to establish eventually the intermediate entity, via a legislative intervention, which will be the Ministry of National Defence’s independent tool for processing and submitting proposals for European funding; proposals of course that are directly responsive to the needs and requirements of the Armed Forces for the following programming period.

This will be an institutional “big-bang” for the Ministry, because it will thus become autonomous and independent in being able to submit its own proposals pertaining mainly to Defence and Security. You know better than I do that these may not only relate to weapon systems. But there are not just weapon systems in Defence and Security; there is a number of other opportunities that relate to new technologies, surveillance monitoring, etc., which we – the Ministry – could and should take the pest possible advantage of them, given the needs, the circumstances and the challenges. For that reason, I would really like us to have a close relationship and cooperation, you the Academic Community, the private sector in the field of Defence. It is our strategic choice to intensify the effort for the development of the Defence Industry; we trumpet it in every tone, but we do not only stay in the declarations and announcements zone, we also put this into practice.

Those of you who are following what happens with the country’s Defence Industry, you will find small victories here and there; and many problems of course – some of them persisting dangerously – like for instance the problem with the Hellenic Aerospace Industry. However, it does not matter. This is also up to us to do everything to improve the situation – why not? – to boost the capabilities of the Hellenic Defence Industry, which is not only limited to companies controlled by the State, but also companies of the private sector, which I am confident that it has much more to offer. The basis of logical thinking is rather established; when a country like Greece is obliged to maintain Armed Forces at that level, that quality and operational readiness, due to the challenges that we have to encounter, then these Armed Forces can only be supported by a Defence Industry that really assists them. The fact that this has not happened, to the extent that it should have happened up to this day, is a problem that we now have to identify and solve, but the aim is for this to happen. And if you follow what is going on for instance in the shipyards, you will see that this effort is being intensified and there will also be another factor to be taken into consideration. Many “players” outside Greece have expressed their interest. Therefore, there will be other opportunities as well for cooperation, synergies between companies operating in the territory of the country, together with companies operating abroad, with a direct impact on the field of Defence production.

As soon as health conditions allow so – and I believe that this will take place by the end of this month – we will be having many visits from foreign “players”, commencing with the Israelis that we met two or three weeks ago and expressed their keen interest in coming here to discuss the prospects for their entry in Greece under terms of synergy of course with foreign firms.

I cannot hide the fact that at least in one case, the interest expressed by the Israelis has to do with your success as well; with the fact in other words that we succeeded in obtaining EDIDP’s approval of four programmes and this also attracts the interest of parties that already possess know-how in certain level of material production and wish to take advantage of this emerging opportunity for synergy with companies of an EU member-state that has access to all such systems (PESCO, EDIDP, etc.). Therefore, as you may understand, the intention is not charitable; but an intention of mutual benefit. We would gain from this and we have to find the way to organize the system in such a way, so as to have actual progress and actual result.

As I told you, it is extremely important that this opportunity is not wasted as another period during which research would be carried out, European funds would be consumed and eventually, at the end of this effort, there will be nothing tangible to be shown. Because if this happens, then I am saying to you that things are going to get harder in the future and I do not want them to get harder; we want things to become even easier, because this entails benefit for the Armed Forces.

Long story short, let us look at your proposals one by one to see whether the specifications of the products you are now required to develop are in line with the Staffs’ specifications and the requirements and this is a very important aspect. If or to the extent that they do not comply, we should coordinate to adjust them and apart from that, bear in mind that it is not necessary to solve all matters at this point but have in mind and in your planning that we should set some targets and timetables, in order to see how it goes from now on. The Ministry and the Military leadership express the wish to assist with your effort; it could not be otherwise, but this will take place on terms of achieving results. Results that would be measurable, tangible and besides, they will be assessed by the entities that approved your proposal. Anything else for me will have been a failure, which will undermine the future of such efforts.

Consequently, about as truly glad as we are – and I am asking you to accept this, we are very happy that we succeeded in obtaining the approval of our four proposals – we also have the obligation and the responsibility to ensure that, from now on, we will make robust steps, specific steps bearing in mind the production of a final result. Nothing more, nothing less. You may realize that Europe is starting to see the field of Defence and Security very seriously and particularly, the funding of programmes that relate to defence and security may not be an exemption. That is what circumstances, challenges for the entire Europe and not only for our country, require. But since our Country has always been maintaining a visible role in this Defence and Security network and as a result of the circumstances that we are dealing with, we should now find the opportunity to play a key role in this case; in other words, to be one of the countries that will lead the effort for the creation of a European Defence and Security network.

And of course in this framework, I believe that PESCO and, subsequently, EDIDP are starting to see their role being upgraded. Where there was once a paragraph, a footnote to the Treaty of Lisbon, it now becomes a central condition that should lead to specific results. Therefore, I believe that this is an opportunity for our country, since it possesses skills, such as active and present operationally ready Armed Forces, an academic community with exceptional human resources, some proven experience as to the potential of this talent – and I have a personal opinion about this – but also a private sector vibrant and active in the Defence Industry, in conjunction with companies controlled by the Public Sector and at that point we have to consider the interventions that need to be done, I can assure you that we spend lots of hours on a daily basis trying to see what needs to be done with all these companies.. We have to strike a balance between all these and take advantage of them for the benefit of our country.

And our country’s benefit consists in the Defence production domestically with anything that this entails and of course the capabilities. It is impossible to become Israel from one day to the next. Besides, as you know, the Israeli Ministry of Defence has a budget of 36 billion, compared to our 530 million euro… The gap is huge! However, taking baby steps, we may start to produce work, given that in the past there were cases like these, which possibly for various reasons that should not be analysed at this stage, we were not able to take advantage of them.

Let us take for example the field of UAVs, where Greece has a product for a very long time and 30 – 40 years after the production of the first product, we are discussing about the need to acquire the national UAV, due to the fact that possibly our neighbors have made a much more organized and comprehensive effort for a long time and have already developed their own fleet. A differentiating factor is the production of the National UAV, but I believe that this is a field in which we may have specific results soon enough.

We have already said that we need to organize it. And since I now see that the conditions for such organization are starting to develop slowly, I believe that we should take advantage of this opportunity. I am only using this as an example, because it is not only about the UAVs and the specific proposal that has been submitted, but there are other proposals as well about surveillance with regard to interoperability and cyber-defence that in my opinion generate a vibrant field of glory.

We should now plan the way of going to a procedure, where we will take advantage of the opportunity, the proposal will be implemented, the European funding will be used, but also the final result or something leading to a final result will be produced.

Congratulations again! Bear in mind that we are here to assist you, because we are very determined to move forward in a swift, specific, methodical and effective way. There is no other way. As I told you, circumstances demand it, let alone the manner in which we work – if you want – so requires, because it is the time of deciding and the time I would say of organizing the following day and the future of the Armed Forces. We were lucky to assume this duty, this difficulty, but this difficulty is also challenging and for me, it consists of an opportunity to prove that we can do it. Nothing less. Congratulations again!”.