A matter of national importance
Belharra frigates, Rafale fighters and (if we can afford them) F-35 fighter jets are all well and good. Greece urgently needed them. We had fallen hopelessly behind, particularly the Hellenic Navy. It is also very positive that, for the first time in decades, officials are studying and redesigning the link between armaments, the defense industry and innovation. It is mind-boggling and enraging that after so many billions spent on defense procurements over the past 40 years nothing was gained by the domestic defense industry and research. Only kickbacks and questionable offsets.
However, we must not forget that in addition to armaments, the country also needs a robust foreign policy, which is obviously exercised on a personal basis and at a high level by the prime minister, the foreign minister and other officials. Greece has traditionally had a good and strong Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Despite the popular myth of an incomparably better Turkish diplomacy, Greece had very strong diplomats, structures and mechanisms and sufficient funds.
Then, the 1980s came and changed everything. In part it was necessary to break with the old establishment but, as usual, there were excesses. Advisers replaced diplomats who, in time, stopped expressing their real opinion and instead agreed with the presumed will of their boss. There were also many changes in the exams for candidate diplomats and many special favors with the expected consequences.
Today the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is facing an unprecedented lack of funds as it continues to receive the levels it was given during Greece’s debt crisis. The salaries of diplomats abroad are a disincentive for young people who want to have a career. Important embassies lack the money to pay for clerks or drivers. The lack of staff at consulates angers the Greek diaspora. The diplomat, as a profession, is no longer attractive, as was seen in the latest exams where it was not even possible to fill the few positions that were opened.
Will more money solve the problem? Obviously not unless there is a serious plan to completely redesign the ministry to meet the needs of the time. Its leadership is aware of the problem and is interested in solving it, which is not self-evident. It is a pressing problem that we need to deal with, perhaps not as urgent as meeting the needs of the Navy, but certainly a matter of national importance.
