“National issues are not the property of any party or any prime minister, and the country's security cannot be turned into an election scare tactic,” stressed PASOK MP and head of the National Defense Sector of the party Michalis Katrinis, speaking in the plenary session of Parliament during the discussion of two international agreements of the Ministry of National Defence.
He noted, in fact, that Mr. Mitsotakis accused PASOK and Nikos Androulakis of involving national issues in internal political confrontation, when for months he himself and New Democracy officials have been linking national security to the dilemmas of the next elections, even to the question of who would “pick up the phone at three in the morning” in a crisis.
The PASOK MP focused on the results of the government's foreign policy. He recalled that with the Athens Declaration, which was presented as a great success, Turkey was “whitewashed” in the eyes of partners and friends and is again discussing the F-35s, claiming a role in the European defense architecture and moving forward with new arms agreements, while the casus belli, the “Blue Homeland,” and the challenges to Greek sovereign rights remain.
He dwelt in particular on the speech by Ursula von der Leyen on the state of the Union, where extensive reference was made to threats to European security, Russia, attacks on member states, and hybrid threats, without a single word about Turkey.
“Where is the strong Greek voice in Europe when a country that maintains a threat of war against a member state and illegally occupies the territory of another member state is absent from the discussion on threats against the Union?”, he wondered.
He also raised the issue of the illegal Turkey-Libya memorandum, for which the European condemnation was not accompanied by a real cost for Ankara, as well as the Greece–Cyprus electricity interconnection, which is being delayed under the tangible challenge to Greek sovereign rights.
He pointed out that the only diplomacy the government understands is “purchasing diplomacy,” stressing that purchases of extremely expensive weapons systems do not automatically ensure political support. Greece, he underlined, needs its own plans, initiatives, autonomous capabilities, know-how, a strong defense and shipbuilding industry, and real national control of critical systems.
In this context, he brought back the questions about the “Shield of Achilles” as the government did not answer regarding the national control of the subsystems that support this defense architecture, while he focused particularly on the issue of implementing the government's commitment for 25% domestic participation in armament programs, which is not visible.
“Greece needs its own initiatives, its own capabilities, and a strong voice in Europe. This is the policy that a PASOK government can guarantee” he concluded.