“The homeland must be fortified against every potential threat, so that it can deter it and can deter it on its own, as this is the constitutional obligation of the government and the Defense Minister.” This is the message sent in all directions by Defense Minister Nikos Dendias speaking in Parliament during the discussion of the State Budget ratification.
At the same time, referring to the “existing” threat from the other side of the Aegean, specifically Turkey, he emphasized that “the 7 billion euros of the budget is against a manifest threat which is demographically 9 times larger, with 28.7 billion euros in expenditures, therefore we must face a multiple budget. However, we have all realized that this is the price of freedom, the price for Greek society and the Greek people to be able to autonomously decide their future.”
Nikos Dendias: We face other challenges as well
Furthermore, the Defense Minister reiterated that “technological developments are rapid and the lessons from the wars in Ukraine, the Caucasus, the Middle East show that armed conflicts and the way they are conducted has completely changed. However, we also face other challenges, population decline. Difficulty in attracting and retaining personnel in the Armed Forces, given that we cannot compete with the level of compensation provided by the market.” Additionally, the Defense Minister added that “nevertheless, adaptation to new conditions is a matter of survival and this, to be clear, cannot be done with the mentality and perceptions of state enterprises from the 1980s.”
Clash with Velopoulos and Charitsis over SAFE
At the same time, Nikos Dendias provided answers regarding the SAFE program, responding to criticism from Greek Solution leader Kyriakos Velopoulos and New Left president Alexis Charitsis. According to Nikos Dendias, Ankara spends 28 billion euros on military expenditures while having declared a casus belli, while Greece spends 6-8 billion euros. He also asked the parties to vote for defense expenditures.
“I’m afraid I’m the only one among us who has read the Regulation. And please don’t rehash that we withdrew your proposal, that the country was diminished – that’s not the case,” the Defense Minister said during the 2026 budget discussion and added: “SAFE is a loan. The reason it rose to almost 3 billion euros was because the country submitted a framework with all alternatives,” he noted meaningfully.
“Nothing has been finalized. There are still 3 months left. It’s still a matrix of possibilities and we wanted to have the greatest possibilities. The specific Commissioner asked us for the sum to be what is provided. There will also be SAFE 2. We acted correctly,” he emphasized. For his part, Kyriakos Velopoulos asked him whether “Turkey will enter the program through the back door.”
“Seriousness sees this and dies laughing,” commented the Greek Solution president. “However, the prime minister made the big mistake with SAFE, putting Turkey in the program through the window. Are the Europeans who do business with our enemies our friends?” asked the Greek Solution leader.
“We’re dealing with crazy people. Merz said: ‘…if Ukraine falls into Russia’s crosshairs, the EU will be found’! What business do we have making war with Russia? Our enemy is Turkey and only Turkey. And you must choose: United States or European Union?” he wondered.
Charitsis: How did you manage to get rejected?
“You didn’t tell us about the program, even though about how your ministry and the government managed to submit a proposal that was not accepted by the European Union,” emphasized Al. Charitsis and asked “to explain to us how while the ceiling for loans from ELA was 788 million euros, you submitted a document for equipment worth almost 3 billion euros. It’s a big discrepancy. You can’t say. And okay, it’s not very convincing to tell us and for the ministry to admit that a mistake was made. The document to the Commission.”
The New Left president submitted a letter from the Union of Greek Shipyards saying that Greek shipyards are not included in the Greek proposal for SAFE. For his part, Nikos Dendias explained that the letter concerns the construction of the Greek vessel, which was chosen not to be funded by SAFE but from other sources.
