The leader of the Opposition and head of the SYRIZA political party Alexis Tsipras visited today the Ministry of National Defence and was briefed by the Minister of National Defence Dimitris Avramopoulos, and the military leadership, on the Armed Forces’ operational structure and function.
The briefing followed after a private meeting between Mr. Avramopoulos and Mr. Tsipras, at the beginning of which they had the following dialogue:
D. AVRAMOPOULOS: I welcome you, mister President, to the Ministry of National Defence. You are familiar with the location since you have come here in the past with your associates.
Since then, much has changed in this place and also in our geopolitical environment. The new data that have been formed will be today the subject of our briefing that you will be presented, on account of your statutory role – and I would like to thank you for your initiative to meet today. I am certain that we will illuminate many of the aspects that pertain to our country’s defence system and to the new, very alarming, data which have sprung to our region, since it seems that the developments in the Middle East and to the broader arc forming from Ukraine to Tunisia, bring Greece forward during a very difficult situation.
What I can say is that our national defence system remains decent, its soul lies in its personnel, but also the entire network and system are at full readiness.
However, we shall further discuss all this during our meeting.
A. TSIPRAS: Minister, we had the possibility to communicate during all this time. Despite the fact that we disagree, we are political opponents, yet all critical matters of national security, defence and foreign policy demand statutory understanding, exchange of views and information and, why not, convergence where it is necessary and it may occur.
My visit here today is not for communicative purposes, it is essential since we experience a very tense period. There is fluidity, geopolitical fluidity and I think that we should give a message towards all directions that the country, despite the fact that it has experienced extended wounds to its economy, remains a country with powerful geopolitical power and deterrence capability.
Hence, I believe that it is our duty, as official opposition, to have an essential and statutory briefing on all these developments.