It was ratified with 191 votes in favor in Parliament, the Greek-French agreement for cooperation in defense and security.
This agreement was voted by New Democracy, KINAL and Hellenic Solution, while on the contrary, SYRIZA, the KKE and MERA25 voted against. No member of parliament voted "present". An MP who does not belong to the parties that support the agreement also voted in favor.
The vote was preceded by a discussion of political leaders. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said that "it is an agreement that overall enhances the cooperation of our two countries in the fields of defense, security and foreign policy" and attacked Alexis Tsipras, saying: "Mr. Tsipras, you did not say that it is an agreement that has some problems.
You said it was bad. Under the agreement, in Article 31 (4), it may be terminated in writing by either party. Will you report it? Yes or No; Let the Greeks know, let the French know, let the Turks know who are obviously not happy. Let them know if you will terminate it with a law and an article. What exactly are you going to do? You owe it to at least one honest answer to friend France. "
Later, the Prime Minister referred to the possibility of sending Greek soldiers to the Sahel and said: How many operations are there in the Sahel? Do you know them? There is the purely French company Barkan, which is obviously involved in hostilities. There is another that provides support for the overall French presence in the Sahel.
Which countries are participating? Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Italy, Norway, Sweden, the Czech Republic. All these countries have not signed any agreement with France. They are not even in the Mediterranean. They consider it appropriate to have their own supportive presence.
For his part, the leader of the main opposition said he would vote against the agreement and as soon as his party becomes a government again he will change it.
"You said that we had a doctrine of defense and foreign policy that left the country as an open vineyard and you wondered if we were anxious.
"We had neither Belharra nor Rafale when Turkish research ships escorted by Turkish navy ships went to the country's EEZ outside Kastelorizo with Barbaros to conduct research."
He noted that "at that time we did not go out to say that there was a wind that carried the ships in our EEZ, we did not go out to say that they do not conduct investigations and therefore do not violate our sovereign rights because the adjacent ships make a fuss. We did not put the queue against the legs and we had neither Belharra nor Rafale, but we defended the sovereign rights of our homeland with the presence of the PN ships there ".
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