In the Eastern Mediterranean, Greece, a member of the European Union and NATO, seeks to consolidate stability, security and create conditions for economic development. This was emphasized by the Minister of National Defense, Nikos Dendias, today, Tuesday, October 24, speaking at the Economist’s 27th round table discussion with the Greek Government, in Lagonisi, in the thematic section “Defense and Security in the Eastern Mediterranean”.

Florence Parly, former Minister of Defense of France, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, former Minister of Defense of Germany and Hryhoriy Nemyria, Deputy Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Parliament of Ukraine and former Deputy Prime Minister, also participated in the discussion. The discussion was moderated by Joan Hoey.

Mr. Dendias, among other things, underlined that “Greece directly and from the first moment condemned the terrorist attacks of Hamas». He characterized them as “acts of blind violence that cost the lives of too many civilians above all others and that, in our judgment, weaken the legitimate expectations of the Palestinian people.”

“We Greeks”, he added, “have always perceived the Mediterranean as a bridge, not as a physical barrier. As a bridge that unites peoples, cultures, civilizations. After all, the stabilizing role of our country is proven by the hundreds, more than 350 agreements we have concluded in the last four years, with countries from all over the world, with the two Mutual Defense Cooperation Agreements between Greece and the United States prominent.”

“We also believe in being present in our region of the United States and NATO, we consider that they may act as a foundation of stability. We believe that NATO is not only a Defense Alliance, but an alliance for the defense of values ​​and principles, and that the Russian invasion of Ukraine highlighted precisely this role of NATO,” he clarified.

“I welcome,” he noted, “President Erdogan’s decision yesterday to advance Swedish NATO membership as a piece of legislation in the Turkish National Assembly.”

In our wider region, he said, “we are facing a geopolitical Gordian link” and the causes, he added, “have a lot to do with the five wrong basic assumptions that the great majority of us made at the beginning of the 21st century.”

“The first false premise is that Democracy has finally taken hold of the planet and will continue to spread. It turned out to be the opposite of reality, just look at what is happening in the countries of the Sahel,” he explained.

“The second false assumption is that as China becomes more affluent and economically powerful, it would become more open and more democratic,” he continued.

“The third false working assumption was that regardless of NATO’s eastward enlargement, Russia would become a member of the European security architecturewill also ensure stability in the South Caucasus and remain a stable supplier of cheap energy to Europe” he underlined.

“The fourth false assumption,” he said, “was that the Palestinian issue can be sidelined and dealt with in the distant future when the dividing lines between Israel and the Arab world have ceased to exist.”

“And the fifth wrong assumption, perhaps the most destructive of the four others together, is that the model of economic development that we followed in the 20th century can continue in the 21st century without addressing the consequences of climate change,” Mr. Dendias.

“So, these consequences have already been manifested and the signs for the future if we do not react immediately are ominous. And not only these. “Revisionism, after decades, undertakes with historic audacity to question values ​​and conditions on which the global security architecture is based,” he clarified.

The Hellenic Republic remains a “factor of geopolitical and energy stability” he pointed out and added: “We are committed to resolving disputes, based on the principles of International Law and the Law of the Sea. We remain active in regional initiatives for peace, far from ideologies of past centuries, from threats, from perceptions of the era of the gunboats.

Florence Parly, in her speech, referred to the fact that the Mediterranean has always been a zone of “effervescence” while pointing out that “the eastern side of the Mediterranean is like a melting pot of different conflicts”.

He spoke of an “arms race” and an increase in tension while commenting that there is an “energy race” for natural resources. Regarding the conflict in Israel, he mentioned, among other things, that civilians are being removed from the border with Egypt.

For her part, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer focused on the “intense changes” of our time, emphasizing the US-China rivalry, the increase in immigration due to conflicts and conflicts, as well as the rapid technological developments.

“A multi-level crisis management is needed” he said and continued: “We have to ask ourselves if we are ready in NATO and in Europe to do it or if we need a new Euro-Atlantic security architecture.”

Finally, Hryhoriy Nemyria, referred to the consequences of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, at a geopolitical and energy level. He emphasized the fact that in the past Ukraine “had a nuclear arsenal”, which it withdrew after receiving guarantees “that appeared empty”, as he said.

He explained that the war in Ukraine “is not a battle to restore the former Soviet Union” but a struggle by Vladimir Putin to “write the rules of the new security order” in the wider region. The stake, as he clarified, is for “Europe to stay next to Ukraine”.