The Minister of National Defence Nikos Dendias attended yesterday, Sunday 23 November 2025, as representative of the President of the Hellenic Government, the event for the Celebration of the Armed Forces, which took place at the Athens Concert Hall.
The Minister of National Defence mentioned the following in his address:
“Ladies and gentlemen,
Today, with a sentiment of pride and gratefulness, we honour the Armed Forces of our Homeland, along with the Presentation of Virgin Mary.
However, today, I would like to discontinue the tradition and not mention only those who serve in the Armed Forces.
I would like to honour those who support the mission in silence. I am talking about the wives, the mothers, the children. The fathers, the parents. Meaning the extended Military Family.
Because the Armed Forces are not an action, an institution of solitary people.
They do not consist solely of the members who defend Sovereignty and the Homeland. They also consist of their families.
These families carry burdens that are not visible.
They are Soldiers, Seamen and Airmen without a uniform, without decorations. However, they are in the same service but in the shadows.
For these fighters of the shadows I wish to talk today and address them.
Because, if we want a strong defence for our Homeland, our current weapon systems are not sufficient.
We require a connective framework that will include the families. That is the aim of “Agenda 2030”.
Either way, the employment in the Armed Forces – those who are here, in this hall, are better aware of it than anyone else – is not like all the other professions. It constitutes the utilisation of a very larger part of the person’s personality, of the Member, than any other profession or calling. It requires the cession of a much larger part of the life of that Member.
Therefore, I would like to say that as the Member is not just a simple worker, thus the Ministry of National Defence and the Homeland could not be regular employers. They have to be something more. They have to combine the strictness of fatherhood with the caring and embrace of the mother. That is why today’s celebration identifies with the Champion Leader.
This motherly care must also include tangible things, not only celebratory speeches that we the Ministers usually deliver on these days.
First of all, I am referring to better, more just salaries. A bill has already been submitted for Public Consultation, including a better reciprocation of the Homeland towards its members.
But, besides that, motherhood includes decent, free housing, facilitations in everyday life, care for the children – we heard one or two children’s voices here today – an effective Healthcare System, care for the elderly who have retired, care for people with disabilities who had served in the past.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I started my speech with our Members’ income. As you know, the financial crisis was a major blow. The new salaries prove the volition for the recognition of that particular contribution with significant increases, ranging from 13% to 53%. There is no meaning at this point in detailing numbers. However, I will give a simple example to visualise the qualitative aspect:
A young 2nd Lieutenant with 3 years of service at the borders, where the Homeland’s needs are the greatest, will have a 379 euros raise per month, equalling to 4.548 € per year. The amount is not negligible.
Another example is the Captain of a Frigate with 23 years of service. He will see a 1.000 euros raise per month, equalling to 12.000 € per year.
I will not grow tired of repeating, ladies and gentlemen, that these raises were not secured by burdening the Greek taxpayer. They were secured through money saved from the rationalisation of the Structure of Forces and the decommissioning of unnecessary structures.
Of course, it will be implemented retroactively from October 1.
However, I do not believe that the State’s obligation towards its Members ends with these raises. Because I want to tell you that, there is an understanding with the Ministry of Finance.
The money we are saving return to our Members as a wage dividend. Therefore, I will continue on the course of money saving in 2026, considering it a virtuous model for the Greek Public Sector. It is a very good example. I hope that we will be able to announce a new cycle.
The second axis is housing. I wish to clarify that we do not consider it a gratuity, but a self-evident obligation.
We have announced the new Housing Programme, the building of 10.500 residencies and the modernisation of 7.030 more residencies, a total of 17.500. It is the greatest housing programme in the History of modern Greece. Three times as extensive, when compared to any other announced in the 200 years of our existence.
The aforementioned are not mere announcements. The first 1.059 residencies will be finished up to 2026. In a few days, on the day after tomorrow, we will deliver 49 of them to the eligible personnel. Because the project – already funded and scheduled – will continue its materialisation.
The third axis is the battle against high prices. I think that it is recorded everywhere as the most severe problem of every Greek family.
This is another obligation for us. That is why we are establishing a Supply Centre Integrated Joint Command, homogenising the Military Exchanges, systemising a central price negotiation, with logistics technology that we will acquire. We are interested in the goal, the result.
We are committed to make the “Basket of the Military Family”, at a weighted average, in the next year, from the middle of the year in June and moving forward, 20% to 23% cheaper than the corresponding prices of the market.
We have well-documented calculations and we will monitor the process with clear, objective criteria that we will be able to announce.
The fourth axis is the care for the children and the support of motherhood.
Ladies and gentlemen, we need New Greeks.
I refuse to unconditionally surrender to the threat of our National shrinkage.
The military family experiences it more intensely, with low birth rates, caused also by transfers, unstable environment and the increased requirements. Therefore, we must substantially support the right of the Military Family to grow.
So, we are finally launching the first Maternity Clinic at the Athens Naval Hospital, which will operate until the end of next year and we are examining the prospect of creating a Maternity Clinic at the 424 General Military Hospital of Thessaloniki.
We have already established free assisted reproduction. We will expand free egg cryopreservation for staff and this measure will also be extended to women who choose voluntary enlistment.
We will also embrace the born child. We will embrace it tighter.
We will build 6 new Daycares, we will renovate the existing ones, so that they will be able to host more infants, more kids, and in a reasonable amount of time all the infants and all the kids who require care.
We will upgrade the Children’s Special Care Centre, with modern specifications and scientific staffing, so that the children of the military family with increased needs, will enjoy the corresponding advanced care.
Furthermore, we will motivate whomever wishes to support the Homeland while studying, thus, in the framework of establishing scholarships for students serving in the Armed Forces, we are also building 4 Halls of Residence for students. Therefore, we believe that we also embrace the Younger Generation.
The fifth axis is the existing Healthcare System.
Military Hospitals do not just constitute a critical infrastructure. We also want them to be a pillar of care for the military family.
Thus, we invest on their modernisation, medical-technological equipment and human workforce. We are in contact with the Stavros Niarchos Foundation for the provision of modern software logistics, to fully computerise and optimise their operation. For this assistance, I would like to thank Mr Andreas Drakopoulos.
Moreover, we will assign our certification and monitoring to a reliable external evaluator, so that we truly know the quality level of the provided services.
In the aforementioned bill, we have established a full waiver of participation in healthcare costs – the established 15% which applied heretofore – and which also safeguards our Members’ income.
We will create a Training Centre of Excellence and a Field Injuries Treatment Unit in Greece. A crucial facility, concerning which, a conference has been planned following the holidays, on 17/1/26. In this task, we will be aided by a famous Greek expatriate, the Harvard Professor and surgeon at M.G., Giorgos Velmachos, the man who treated most of the victims of the bomb attack at the Boston Marathon.
I would also like to mention our donors. I would like to express my gratitude, to those donors whom I see among us today, as well.
They are also aiding us in the Healthcare sector. The Vardinogiannis family helped us with the construction of two floors at the Athens Naval Hospital.
Mr Angelakos helped us with a new oxygen production unit and a CT scanner at the Athens Naval Hospital.
The Short Term Care Unit with 32 beds at the Athens Naval Hospital was a contribution of the Honorary Rear Admiral Panos Laskaridis.
The Latsis Foundation has made a considerable donation to the General Military Hospital and Eurobank has renovated the Diabetes Clinic of the Salamis Naval Hospital.
We have the sixth axis, which is care for the retired servicemen, and those with special needs. For, ladies and gentlemen, we may not forget those who served our Country with loyalty, dedication and have retired.
We are creating three new Assisted Living housing complexes for our Retired Servicemen. With organised care facilities, and basic healthcare support. That is, it enables those who have no family or the capability to live on their own, to live in a dignified environment.
Furthermore, we are creating the Interservice Elderly Care Unit at the Army Equity Fund Hospital, with modern living standards.
Generally, for people with special needs, we are organising a Home of Assisted Living for anyone, regardless of age, belonging to the military family, who is incapable of living on his/her own.
Finally, service facilities are established by a new ministerial decision. These are beneficial provisions for certain groups of military personnel, such as protecting the institution of the family, granting special parental leave, waiving overnight duties when there are serious reasons, joint postings, and a reduced work schedule.
A holistic understanding founded on the following: That the family is not a deterrent to operational readiness. It is a fundamental prerequisite for the support of personnel, so they can fulfil their constitutional mission.
All of the above is a grid, driving to the obvious. That at the epicentre of effective defence, beyond modern armaments, beyond the Modern Age’s Capabilities, you will find the Human Factor, Personnel.
We thus, are indebted to our Personnel, to their Families.
We are obliged to bequeath Greece to our descendants.
A Greece able to exercise its Sovereignty. That is, with a guaranteed capability of the Greek people to decide, sovereignly, not under duress or forcefully by third, foreign parties, concerning the future.
Under the protection of the Champion Leader, today, we honour the Armed Forces, and honour the Military Family in the most concrete way.
The Chief/HNDGS, General Choupis previously mentioned Thermopylae, the 300 dead Spartans, whom world history has illuminated, as a standard, an example of self-sacrifice for one’s country.
We have learned by heart the saying “Go Tell the Spartans, You Who Passeth By, That Here, Obedient to Their Laws We Lie”. Every Greek student knows it.
In the beginning, I talked to you about the unseen fighters. It is those very fighters, who hold a special place in my heart. As an example, allow me, outside the books, to tell you, that at Thermopylae, not only 300 Greeks were killed. They were 1,300. The other 1,000 were the Thespians, to whom history has not been generous. Their memory has been overshadowed by the grand events. Yet they also have an interesting funerary: “Άνδρες τοι ποτ’ έναιον υπό κροτάφοις Ελικώνος” – Men who once lived on the slopes of Mt Helicon – “λήματα των αυχεί” – of whose morale boast – “Θεσπιάς ευρύχορος” – broad Thespiae.
I would therefore like to dedicate this evening to today’s unseen fighters, yet equally bright and brave, the military family, wish them health and good fortune and cry out: Long live the Hellenic Armed Forces! Long live the Nation!
Thank you”.
On behalf of the political and military leadership of the Armed Forces, the celebration was attended by the Deputy Minister of National Defence Thanasis Davakis, the Chief/HNDGS General Dimitrios Choupis, the Secretary General of the Ministry of National Defence Antonios Oikonomou, the Chief/HAGS Lieutenant General Georgios Kostidis, the Chief/HNGS Vice Admiral Dimitrios Eleftherios Kataras HN, and the Chief/HAFGS Lieutenant General Dimosthenis Grigoriadis.
MP Zoi Rapti, as representative of the Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament, the Minister of Environment and Energy Stavros Papastavrou, the MPs Vasilis Oikonomou, Giannis Pappas, Dionysis Chatzidakis, Anastasios Oikonomopoulos, and parties’ representatives were also present.
Other attendees were the Bishop of Talantion Mr Theologos as representative of His Beatitude the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece, the Deputy Head of Region for the Central Sector of the Region of Attica Georgios Vlachos, as representative of the Head of Region for Attica, the Vice President of the Court of Audit Anna Ligomenou, as representative of its President, the Chief of the Fire Service Lieutenant General Theodoros Vagias, the Chief of the Hellenic Coast Guard Vice Admiral C.G. Tryphon Kontizas, the National Security Advisor Athanasios Ntokos, the President of the Court Martial Appeal Court Lieutenant General Dimitrios Delis, the Court Martial Appeal Court Prosecutor Lieutenant General Georgios Lekkas, Foreign States’ Ambassadors, the Mayor of Vari, Voula, and Vouliagmeni Grigorios Konstantellos, the Dean of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Professor Gerasimos Siasos, former Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis, Honorary Chiefs, as well as active and retired Officers and Non Commissioned Officers, Donors to the Armed Forces, representatives of Reserve Officers Associations, representatives of entities and federations.
During the event, the play “Greeks, not by descent but in spirit” (an imaginary dialogue between Victor Hugo and Eugene Delacroix) was acted out, directed by Lefteris Giovanidis, and acted by Manolis Mavrommatakis, Lefteris Vasilakis, and Aris Antonopoulos.
The Armed Forces Band, conducted by Lieutenant Commander Efstratios Sitsas HN, played famous pieces, as did Evanthia Remboutsika with her compositions, while Petros Gaitanos and Giorgos Nikiforou Zervakis sang songs relevant to the context of the event, alongside Airwoman First Class Sofia Zova (MUS) and the Choir of the Nursing Officers Academy.
During the event, presented by journalist Ritsa Bizogli, awards were given to Honorary Chief/HNDGS General Manousos Paragioudakis (ret.), ship owner Athanasios Laskaridis, and businessman Konstantinos Velentzas.
Awards were also presented to Lieutenant Commander Charalambos Dagklis HN, to Major Georgios Sotiriou, and to Captain Zisis Dainas, as well as to distinguished cadets of the Class of 2025, 2nd Lieutenant (AA) Georgios Albandakis (Hellenic Military Academy), Ensign Nikolaos-Vasileios Soukaras HN (Hellenic Naval Academy), 2nd Lieutenant Evangelos Apostolakis (Hellenic Air Force Academy), 2nd Lieutenant Eirini-Maria Chatzidimitriou (Hellenic Military Academy of Combat Support Officers), and 2nd Lieutenant Dimitra Florou (Nursing Officers Academy).
