We vote against the budget, but we vote for defense spending, because our priority is the defense armor of the country and adequate defense, despite the serious mistakes of the government. This was emphasized in his speech on the 2024 state budget, the main opposition member of parliament, Evangelos Apostolakis.

As he noted, we chose to express, with this symbolic move, our permanent, timeless and non-negotiable position. With our choice, we also remove from the arsenal of ND propaganda the lie that SYRIZA-PS did not vote for armament expenditures. I remind you that the frigates, the first RAFALEs, the upgrade of the F-16s, and the 214 submarines were completed, Mr. Apotsolakis pointed out, were voted for by the main opposition party.

Mr. Apostolakis also expressed his joy because the positions expressed by the Minister of National Defense, N. Dendias, “are in the same spirit as those that SYRIZA has been supporting all these years, that is to say, prioritization, planning and programming, utilization of the domestic defense industry. In the end, smart choices must be made,” said the SYRIZA MP.

At the same time, he proposed (a) the immediate strengthening of the domestic defense industry, (b) the immediate support and upgrading of all existing weapon systems and units, (c) the creation of a new salary scale for the Armed Forces personnel, with automatic indexation of salaries and compensations, (d) the immediate quality upgrade of medical care for executives and their families

Completing his placement, the honorary leader of GEETHA and former Minister of National Defense in the second government of Al. Tsipras. He said that “our criticism of the poorly written Mitsotakis on the issue of armaments and contracts is valid”, and that “we call on the government to take into account our proposals and to practically support the officers of the Armed Forces, as they are the most serious weapon system of the country”.