Greece one of most active EU member-states in defense activities, says EDA chief

Greece is one of the most active member-states in the European Union in many defense activities, including in the European Defense Agency (EDA) and the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO), EDA Chief Executive Jiri Sedivy said in an exclusive statement to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA-MPA) released on Monday, ahead of his visit to Greece on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Greece’s support for various EU defense initiatives “could serve as a model for other countries,” he said.

Sedivy is coming to Greece for the international Defense Exhibition Athens (DEFEA), where he is to meet with Greek officials, including Defense Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos and the chief of the Hellenic National Defense General Staff (HNDS), General Konstantinos Floros.

The EDA’s chief executive noted Greece’s participation and role in a number of key activities, such as operations at sea, maritime patrols, energy security and climate change, as well as in PESCO programs, with special emphasis on the development of field hospitals and medical capabilities.

“The cooperation between the EDA and Greece’s Defense Ministry extends to the sector of new technologies in the military and defense sector with a focus on innovation,” said Sedivy.

He also pointed out that Greece leads the PESCO program CTIRISP, a platform for shared use of information on threats and incidents in cyberspace, which concerned the way that member-states share information on incidents and attacks in order to ensure better coordination.

On Turkey’s participation in PESCO programs, Sedivy clarified that this was limited to a specific program concerning military mobility, for which participation by non-EU countries – such as the US, Canada and Norway – had been approved by the European Council. He said the process of accepting a third country in the program required a unanimous decision by all PESCO member-states. [ANA-MPA]