“We will seek, as we practically proved in the previous four years, national consensus or at least national understanding and understanding in the basic choices”, said the Minister of National Defense Nikos Dendias, during the discussion of the programmatic declarations in the Parliament. At the same time, Nikos Dendias hastened to emphasize that “no one in the room is more or less a patriot by definition and no one in this room issues certificates of patriotism and no one in this room owns a patriot meter”. Nikos Dendias clarified at this point that as far as he is concerned “he will not allow national issues to be dragged into the mire of populism, into the mire of party confrontations”, because it is not right to return to “party crowns that dominate national interests” and the return to “patriotism” that “poisons” the national unity.

The Minister of National Defense, referring to neighboring Turkey, underlined that “Greece continues to extend an olive branch, aiming at the peaceful coexistence of the two peoples and looks forward to an improvement in relations, especially after the window of opportunity, which seems to have opened after the disastrous earthquake”. Besides, as he noted, it is known that Greece has always sought peace and stability and in order to achieve peace and stability it must send the message that it will defend, with absolute determination, its sovereignty and sovereign rights, and that it will not it is a tolerable slippage in everything that concerns its territorial integrity, its independence, its sovereignty, and “this does not constitute discretion, it is a given constitutional obligation and duty towards its history and future generations.

For this reason, said the Minister of National Defense, Greece is forming a strong force of deterrence, a sword of law capable of providing answers in the field but wishing that its use would not be required. “That is why it is imperative to maintain open channels of communication at all levels, because with dialogue we can resolve our differences, we can prevent tensions, we can prevent accidents. So we must pursue this dialogue, but a dialogue with a clear and given context, not a dialogue about everything scientific. At the same time, we must continue to update and reshape as many aspects of our national strategy as modern conditions require,” said the Minister of National Defense.

As Nikos Dendias announced to the national delegation, the government’s planning in the field of national defense has four main axes:

-Update of the national security policy. The exploitation of the international foundations that the country has acquired during the last four years, creates great possibilities and there is a long list of countries that perceive, in a similar way to Greece, the international reality and the challenges of the times. The formation of new equipment programs with the most advanced and effective weapon systems helps to face the new challenges. In this axis, the restructuring of the structure, the way of command, the training of the Armed Forces will be considered so that they can deal with hybrid methods of warfare and new threats. Also, to be able to help the action of civil protection, to help crisis management, to strengthen their social role. The possibility of military service serving as a platform for new certified skills, which can then be used in civilian life, will be explored. “Military service is the self-evident contribution of every Greek to the country, but it can also prove to be a useful period of education and acquisition of skills that will later help the individual’s life and the progress of society,” said Nikos Dendias.

– The equipment programs that ensure that the Armed Forces will have the material resources required will be continued and accelerated. The 24 Rafale, the three plus one Belhara, the 83 F-16s being upgraded, the 19 procurement programs with the most iconic acquisition plus 20 F-35s, the upgrade of 37 F-16 fighters, will improve the capabilities of the ED. He will carefully look at the ministry and the old programs that for various reasons are facing problems.

– There will be a strengthening of the defense industry so that it becomes a growth engine of the Greek economy. There will be planning for its upgrade, but there must be provision for dealing with the existing pathologies, and for this reason, close cooperation with the Ministry of Finance is necessary. “The defense industry will stimulate innovation, research, job creation. We can take advantage of the collaborations with European collaborations, exhaust existing European sources of funding, strengthen the cooperation of universities and the Armed Forces”, said the Minister of National Defence.

– There will be care for the upgrading of the living conditions of the Armed Forces personnel who are the main pillar of strength of the Armed Forces and perform their duty with a sense of responsibility and with self-sacrifice, “with material benefits from the state that do not correspond to the height of their mission ».

Mr. Dendias announced the utilization of the huge unexploited real estate of the ED in order to contribute decisively to the improvement of conditions, to create opportunities to find housing for the staff, in every part of Greece and in remote areas as well as in island areas that the cost is unbearable. “The staff must be free from the various daily problems in order to be focused on their mission,” said Nikos Dendias.