NEWS

Defense Minister briefs EU peers on Greek stance on Syria, defense industry

Defense Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos on Friday briefed his European Union counterparts on Greece’s position on a possible US-led military intervention in Syria and on Greece’s state defense industry which faces an overhaul as part of Greek commitments to the troika.

“I had the opportunity to brief my counterparts on the potential of Greece’s defense industry and to highlight the need to maintain it as a pylon of stability and security in the broader region,» Avramopoulos said following a summit of EU defense minister in Vilnius, Lithuania.

The briefing took place as part of a broader debate on «bolstering common foreign and security policy, developing defense capabilities in the European Union and strengthening Europe’s defense industry,» sources said.

As regards Syria, Avramopoulos said that, despite the differing views held by his peers, there was a consensus that «the use of chemical weapons constitutes a war crime against humanity and is not subject to any doubt in the case of Syria.”

Greece’s position on Syria, he said, was in favor of «a political solution» that would seek to exhaust all peaceful and diplomatic means, with the completion of the mission of United Nations experts to Syria «so that we know who are really responsible for this human tragedy and so they can be punished.”

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