French Armed Forces Minister Lecornu Visits Athens as Greece and France Deepen Strategic Defence Cooperation

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Monday received visiting French Minister for the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu at the Maximos Mansion in Athens, underlining the close ties between Greece and France.

“France is one of Greece’s closest partners. In the sectors of defence and security we have established a very important strategic partnership, which is constantly deepening,” Mitsotakis said, praising the levels of cooperation between the two countries.

He stressed that Greece and France consider the European Commission’s ReArm plan a firm foundation for achieving the European Union’s strategic autonomy, saying: “It is a goal for which we have worked together from the start with [French President Emmanuel Macron]. The goal is to enhance, as a Union, our level of readiness and the capabilities of our defence industry, to reduce our dependencies and not to maintain them.”

The prime minister highlighted the importance of the French minister’s visit, noting that defence cooperation was now at the top of the EU’s agenda, and added:

“More particularly, we must reduce our dependence on countries that act in a way that is counter to the EU’s strategic interests. And we must protect the national security and defence interests of all the EU member-states, without exception.” During the meeting, there was a discussion on Greek-French cooperation in defence and the prospects for further enhancing this, as well as the latest developments concerning European defence and the European defence industry, following the European Commission’s presentation of the ReArm Europe programme. The two sides also exchanged views on enhancing collective European defence and European strategic autonomy, as well as on regional and international developments.

Mitsotakis said that the EU’s cooperation with third countries in defence cannot be contrary to the EU’s strategic interests and European decisions for foreign policy and defence, underlining that the security interests of all the EU member-states must be taken into account, in line with European Council decisions.

On his part, Lecornu stressed that the “with the quality of both professional and personal cooperation that you have with President Macron, you do not need ministers in order to make progress in both.”He reported having a very good working meeting with Greek National Defence Minister Nikos Dendias, in which operational issues and stops by French ships were examined, while thanking Greece for the way it received stops by ships of the French Navy, including the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle.

The French minister said his meeting with Dendias had also touched on the situation in Lebanon, the Balkans and the Black Sea, various security issues in the Eastern Mediterranean and the need to boost defence, including through various initiatives taken by the leadership of Greece and France under various heads of state and government with respect to the ReArm plan, as well as to preserve continuity in the shipping and shipbuilding sectors, where Greece was a leader and a privileged partner.

Source: pagenews.gr