Greece's parliament ratifies historic defense deal with France
On Thursday Greece’s lawmakers ratified a historic defense deal with France that includes a mutual assistance clause in case of an armed attack against either, the first such deal between two NATO members. The agreement was announced in Paris last week by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and French President Emmanuel Macron, with Greece also announcing plans to buy three French frigates. Prime Minister Mitsotakis hailed the agreement as the cornerstone of an independent European defence policy, John Psaropoulos joins The Greek Current to discuss today’s important vote in Greece’s Parliament, place this deal within the context of Greek-Turkish relations, and look at what this agreement will mean for Greek-French relations in the future.
John Psaropoulos is an independent journalist based in Athens and Al Jazeera’s southeast Europe correspondent.
Read John Psaropoulos’s latest piece for Al Jazeera: Greece ratifies landmark intra-NATO defence pact with France
You can read the articles we discuss on our podcast here:
Greek lawmakers ratify major defense pact with France
EU countries look to Brussels for help with ‘unprecedented’ energy crisis
Greece proposes EU-wide mechanism on rising energy costs
Greece denies report it is carrying out migrant pushbacks
EU executive demands probe into alleged migrant pushbacks in Greece, Croatia