ATHENS (Parliament Politics Magazine) – On Tuesday, the parliament of Greece authorised a €3 billion deal for three new French-built frigates, which defence officials say are critical in resolving continuing tensions with Turkey.
Lawmakers also approved the addition of six new Rafale fighter jets to an existing order for 18 planes, six of which are brand new and the other 12 have already served in the air force of France.
In the Aegean Sea and the eastern Mediterranean, members of NATO, Turkey and Greece are at conflict over mineral exploitation rights and territorial waters. A heated naval standoff between the two countries resulted from an oil gas survey conducted by Turkey in 2020.
After repeated cuts in funding during the country’s catastrophic 2010-18 financial crisis, Nikos Panagiotopoulos, Defence Minister, claimed the Greek military needed to modernise.
There was no such thing as a ‘slightly necessary’ or ‘somewhat necessary’ armament programme, Panagiotopoulos warned legislators at the time of a committee-level debate in parliament held on Monday.
He added, “In one way or another, all of the armament programmes we have filed for approval are absolutely vital for the armed forces, highly necessary, urgently necessary.”
The purchases were authorised by 157 of the government’s 157 parliamentarians in the 300-seat parliament, with two opposition parties backing them up. The left-wing party of the opposition rejected the purchase of more fighter jets from France.
The frigate deal was finalised the previous year by Kyriakos Mitsotakis, PM of Greece and Emmanuel Macron, president of France along with an improved defence cooperation agreement between the two countries.
Political opponents have claimed that the acquisitions will jar the Greek economy, which is already suffering from large deficits due to epidemic expenditure and a massive public debt worth more than two times the country’s yearly GDP. Mitsotakis has refuted these assertions.
The programme addresses the requirements of the military forces, it aids in the maintenance of the country’s strong alliances, it’s being implemented at a rapid speed, and it mobilises forces in the national economy, he told MPs, but it will not disturb the essential fiscal balance.
