Local media reports that the country’s main opposition party has accused the Greek government of using defense concerns for domestic political gain.
The government of the conservative New Democracy (ND) party must realize that being a “predictable ally” of the US will neither solve the country’s problems nor serve its interests, main opposition SYRIZA-PS said in a statement, Left.gr news website reported.
Rejecting recent remarks by Defense Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos that the previous SYRIZA government did nothing in 2015-2019 to improve Greece’s defense capability, the statement says that many steps have been taken during this period, including the start of efforts to modernize the country’s F-16 fighter jet. . jet fleet.
Emphasizing that it will respond to government propaganda with “arguments, facts and figures,” the party said, “We expect and hope that courage, honesty and responsibility will prevail. defense matters.”
Meanwhile, Rizospastis, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), said on Sunday that the US has accelerated work to make its permanent deployment at the Larissa Air Base in central Greece.
The US military authorities recently released tender announcements to expand Washington’s presence at the base, it said, warning that such developments could make Greece a target for rival imperialist centers.
On May 12, Greek lawmakers ratified a revised version of the US-Greece Mutual Defense Cooperation Agreement (MDCA).
The deal allows the US to use the Georgula barracks in the central Greek province of Volos, the Litochoro training ground and army barracks in the northeastern port city of Alexandroupolis (Dedeagach), as well as the naval base at Souda Bay in Crete, which the US has operated since 1969.
The MDCA, first signed in 1990, has been renewed several times, most recently in 2019.
It was previously subject to an annual renewal, but later amendments allowed it to be extended by five years.
