The Directorate of Press and Public Information of the Ministry of National Defence issued the following press release:

“Today morning, the presiding committee of the workers’ at Hellenic Skaramanga Shipyards union had a set meeting with the Deputy Minister of National Defence Mr. Dimitris Elefsiniotis after their own initiative, by a letter they had sent to the political leadership of the Ministry of National Defence. Due to a previous engagement of the Minister of National Defence Mr. P. Panagiotopoulos to attend the celebrations for the Centenary of the Balkan Wars, where he would escort the President of the Hellenic Republic Mr. Karolos Papoulias, Mr. Panagiotopoulos appointed Mr. Elefsiniotis to meet the workers.

The meeting would be attended by the Ministry’s Special Secretary Mr. A. Oikonomou, as well as by the shipyard’s coordinator project planner Mr. N. Anastassopoulos who was already at the Ministry.

A phone call by the Minister of National Defence Mr. P. Panagiotopoulos to the Chairman of the “TRIAINA” Union Mr. V. Karakitsos had preceded at Wednesday morning, while at noon of the same day, by order of the Minister, the Chairman of the Union was invited at the Ministry, which he visited accompanied by two more members of the Union’s administration and had a long-drawn-out discussion with the Ministry’s Special Secretary Mr. A. Oikonomou and the shipyard’s national coordinator Mr. N. Anastassopoulos, as well as various Minister’s Counsellors, so as to be briefed on the ongoing progress, in view of Thursday’s meeting.

After the completion of the briefing with Mr. Karakitsos, Mr. Anastassopoulos remained at the Ministry until 21:00 and had one more meeting at the Minister’s office with Mr. Panagiotopoulos, at the presence of the Chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff General M. Kostarakos, the Chief of the Hellenic Navy General Staff Vice Admiral K. Christidis and the Ministry’s Special Secretary Mr. Oikonomou, for the shipyard issue, always in view of Thursday’s meeting with the workers.

Unfortunately, for reasons beyond the responsibility of the political leadership of the Ministry of National Defence, the meeting set and prepared for today, Thursday, was cancelled due to the well-known clashes”.