World News | Greece Pledges More High Defense Spending, Seeks F-35 Fleet
Get latest articles and stories on World at LatestLY. Greece's conservative government has promised to continue a multi-billion euro defence modernisation programme during its second term in office, setting its sights on acquiring F-35 fighter jets in five years.
Athens, Jul 7 (AP) Greece's conservative government has promised to continue a multi-billion euro defence modernisation programme during its second term in office, setting its sights on acquiring F-35 fighter jets in five years.
"Our priority is to safeguard the country," Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told parliament on Thursday at the start of a debate to approve a new government after his conservative New Democracy party won a general election last month.
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Athens is acquiring 24 advanced French-built Rafale jets, and upgrading 58 F-16 fighters from its aging fleet. It wants to add 20 F-35s with an option to buy as many as 28 more at a later date – requests that still require final approval from the United States.
Greece has long-standing disputes with neighbour and fellow-NATO member Turkey and is modernising its military after emerging from a severe financial crisis in 2018. It currently has the largest defence budget in the alliance relative to the size of its economy, at 3.54 per cent of gross domestic product in 2022, according to NATO's annual report published in March. It is one of seven members that spend above the 2 per cent NATO guideline, along with the United States, Lithuania, Poland, the United Kingdom, Estonia and Latvia.
Mitsotakis said the high spending on defence would continue despite a welcome thaw in tension with Turkey in recent months. He is due to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan next week on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Lithuania.
Concluding a three-day debate, the Greek parliament will hold a vote of confidence on Saturday, to back the new Mitsotakis government. (AP)
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)