Mitsotakis raised the number of jets to 24 this month. Last year, Greece announced it was buying 18 fourth-generation Rafale fighter jets for $2.5bn.
Last year, Greece and Turkey came to the brink of war when Ankara sent survey ships to look for undersea oil and gas in what Greece considers its maritime jurisdiction.įrance sent naval forces to help Greece’s ageing fleet of 11 frigates patrol its maritime zones and the two countries have since held joint and multilateral air and sea exercises in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean. Greece and France have been drawing closer in recent years, against the backdrop of their deteriorating relations with Turkey. “This is part of the common struggles we have undertaken in Europe – technological independence, a European defence, and combat-readiness.”īoth leaders mentioned the Sahel, Middle East, Mediterranean and Balkans as areas of European interest where joint military action could take place. “We have a commitment to the independence of Europe,” he said. Macron stressed that the Greek deal reinforced his vision of European strategic autonomy. The $5bn deal will provide Athens with three state-of-the-art Belharra frigates and three Gowind corvettes, with an option for one more of each.Īccording to local reports, the ships would be delivered by 2026, with the first frigate arriving as early as 2024.įrance’s Naval Group and US defence contractor Lockheed Martin had been locked in heated competition for the contract since Mitsotakis announced Greece would buy new frigates in September 2019.įor Macron, it was a much-needed win after Australia reneged on a $66bn-deal to buy French diesel submarines earlier this month, announcing its intention to build nuclear submarines using US-supplied technology instead under the AUKUS deal, a trilateral security treaty between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Standing next to French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace, Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Tuesday: “We have a common vision of an autonomous response capability to the challenges Europe faces.” Athens, Greece – Greece has announced a deal to buy between six and eight French-built warships accompanied by a strategic defence partnership with France, a move the Greek prime minister said was “a first step towards European defence autonomy”.
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