Greek MPs ratify agreement for French jets

A 2.5-billion-euro deal for the purchase of 18 Dassault-made Rafale fighter jets from France was ratified by Greece’s Parliament on Thursday evening.

The deal passed with an overwhelming majority, securing the support of opposition lawmakers from SYRIZA, Movement for Change and Greek Solution. The Greek Communist Party (KKE) and MeRA25 voted it down.

Addressing lawmakers earlier during the debate on the legislation, Parliament speaker Kostas Tasoulas described the agreement, which is part of a larger, 11.5-billion-euro program to modernize Greece’s armed forces over the next five years, as “historic.”

“Spending on the armed forces is spending on society, because a country that has safeguarded its sovereignty can work on its advancement, on health, education and pensions, can work on all those peacetime projects that every society dreams of to progress,” he said.