Athens, 14 January 2021

Intervention by President of Parliament Constantine Tassoulas on Defence Ministry Bill – Strengthening the Armed Forces enhances prosperity of Greek people

“We are witnessing historic moments regarding the country's defence, because by strengthening it we are ensuring calmness, progress, prosperity and peace in the country” underlined the President of the Parliament, Mr. Constantine Tassoulas, in his intervention this afternoon in the Plenary during the debate on the Defence Ministry bill on the approval of draft contracts, including the procurement of 18 Rafale fighter planes. As he mentioned, this upgrade is the result of the swift and transparent procedures followed and the result of the fact that the overwhelming majority of the Greek Parliament has embraced this initiative.

Mr. Tassoulas noted that by passing the budget on 15 December and by allocating, for the first time in many years, 5,5 billion euros to the Armed Forces, a decision was made, at long last, to cease to treat the Armed Forces as recipients of praise, visits, symbolic gestures, or providers of photo ops, and offer them assistance in a decisive manner.

“Expenditures for the Armed Forces equal expenditures for the society, because a country that safeguards its sovereignty can see to its well-being, its health care, its education, its pensions and can see to all those peaceful projects that every society dreams of making progress in” said the President of the Parliament, adding: “It is to the credit of the current Ministry of Defence, and the political and military leadership – and notice how this move has been adopted by the overwhelming majority of the political parties – that this decisive step, which puts an end to a – dare I say – long-standing lack of consideration for the essential, deep and crucial problems of the Armed Forces, is being initiated. And I am certain that this beginning will be accompanied by similar moves for the other branches of the Armed Forces.”

 

 

 

 

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