Panagiotopoulos: Strengthening the deterrent power of the country protects it from any plot

The Minister of National Defense, Nikos Panagiotopoulos, emphasized in his speech on the 2023 state budget that any hostile action has a greater cost than benefit.

From the floor of the Parliament, he noted that for the first time after a long time, the correlations of military power between Greece and Turkey are beginning to change in favor of the Greek side. In the aviation part, I can claim that this is a given, said Mr. Panagiotopoulos. He even underlined that the strengthening of the country’s deterrent power protects it from any scheming, safeguarding the citizens’ sense of security. This condition, he added, is also a condition for uninterrupted economic development. He even pointed out that deterrence is not defense. (Deterrence) presupposes defense. If the deterrence fails, then the defense kicks in. Deterrence is discouraging any hostile action, by creating in every adviser, in every potential adversary, the strong belief that any hostile action involves more costs than benefits, he said characteristically.

Mr. Panagiotopoulos also spoke about the intensifying geopolitical importance and criticality of our region, “with the now common and clear pursuit of our NATO allies, for stability, thus reducing tensions between allies, “but at the same time with common and Another problem is obvious: the “elephant in the room”. That is, the revisionist policy of Turkey and the hostile, openly provocative attitude of its neighbor towards our country, especially at the level of rhetoric, which may now be characterized by some as pre-election, but for me it shows that it has elements of a solid revisionist policy pursuits in our region as well”.

As he pointed out, the government, realizing the geopolitical developments and the criticality, but also the already manifested instability in our region, proceeded to increase the budget of the Ministry of Defense, from 3.35 billion euros in 2020, to 5.44 billion. for 2021, to 6.39 billion in 2022 (mainly due to the front-loading of contracts for the payment of the three Belhara frigates as well as the 24 Rafale aircraft, which we started to receive within a year of signing the contract, that is, at a very rapid pace) , while shaping up to 5.65 billion in total for defense in 2023.

Specifically about the 24 Rafales, he said that in a few days two more will come, by the end of the year – beginning of next year, to add to the existing 9, reaching 11. “And so on. By August next year we will have completes the third six, it will be 18, and there will be 6 more to go to the total of 24” said Mr. Panagiotopoulos and added: “So the Rafales are coming, and they are being installed at the base of Tanagra, which has again become a space joy, where it was a place of depression from the stuck Mirage 2000-5 due to the lack of support [..] in just two years. As the Minister of National Defense added, the effort does not stop here: It is also the upgrade of 83 F-16s to the Viper version. The first ones have already been delivered, and the pace will intensify next year, with the delivery of several (aircraft) every month. It is also the delivery of the first three anti-submarine helicopters of the Romeo type, at the end of 2023, which will upgrade the anti-submarine capability of the Navy, said Mr. Panagiotopoulos who praised the strength, quality, professionalism and high level of training of the Armed Forces. Finally, he called on the body to vote in favor of the budget “for an even stronger Armed Forces, for a Greece that has grown stronger, is growing stronger, and will grow even stronger”.

RES-EMP

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