MOD VENIZELOS LAYS OUT VIEWS BEFORE PARLIAMENT

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 2019/10/23
TAGS: PREL PGOV MARR MASS GR
SUBJECT: MOD VENIZELOS LAYS OUT VIEWS BEFORE PARLIAMENT

REF: A.) ATHENS 1535, B.) 08 ATHENS 536, C.) 07 ATHENS 2078

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CLASSIFIED BY: Deborah A. McCarthy, Deputy Chief of Mission; REASON:
1.4(B),(D)


1. (C) SUMMARY. New Minister of Defense Evangelos Venizelos
recently told Parliament that he will take an "extremely cautious"
view towards NATO's Strategic Concept, that he wants to avoid
Aegean tensions but will resist flagrant Turkish violations of
international law and threats of violence, and that he wants to
reduce defense spending to average OSCE levels. In an October 18
speech during a Parliamentary session on the new government's
program, Venizelos also covered the issues of military strategy,
defense procurement, the role of the Greek military outside of
"war," and reform of the military. Venizelos, a pugnacious, proud,
at-times caustic politician from Thessaloniki, is an eloquent
orator with little foreign policy and no military experience. From
unraveling the murky, politicized tanglings of Greek defense
procurement to streamlining the way the Ministry operates, he faces
a steep uphill battle, and it is unclear how much political capital
PM Papandreou will be willing to invest to help him as the PM
balances both the Foreign Ministry portfolio and an economy in dire
straits. END SUMMARY.



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The Speech

--------------




2. (U) MOD Venizelos spoke in Parliament on October 18 during
general discussion on the new Papandreou government's program,
before the vote of confidence for the new PM, which he won without
difficulty. Following Papandreou's programmatic statement before
the Parliamentarians, each of his Ministers outlined their views,
goals, and priorities. Venizelos will have to turn his outline
into a real MOD budget to submit to Parliament by December this
year. His speech ran the gamut of Defense policy issues:



RELATIONSHIPS: Venizelos first commented on the European Security
and Defense Policy (ESDP),noting the need for Greece to formulate
an active policy within the framework of ESDP. He then turned to
the United States, stating "In the same context we have a complete
sense of the significance of Greek-American relations also in the
area of defense, relations which despite of the difference of the
volume between the two states, are undoubtedly governed by the
principle of mutual respect and equality between the two sides."



NATO: Venizelos had sharper words for NATO, and Turkey within that
context, stating: "Greece is an old, historic member of NATO, since
the mid-1950s. Nonetheless we have been always carrying the burden
from the self-evident fact that the country's major security
problem originates from within and not from outside of the
Alliance." He laid down a marker looking ahead to the coming
debate at NATO on the Alliance's Strategic Concept, stating: "Thus
we are participating with extreme caution to the discussions and
the consultations for the new strategic doctrine and NATO's new
structure. Nonetheless, all issues associated with the operational
control, could become accepted only when they are clear regarding
their regulatory context and operational. We cannot accept anything
different."



GREEK-TURKEY RELATIONS: Beyond the barb buried in the NATO
comments, Venizelos led off his speech with a hard line on the

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Aegean: "Greece wants to avoid tensions. [Greece] respects the
agreed confidence building measures but resists the flagrant
violations of international law which are manifested as threat of
war or the threat to use of violence."



MILITARY BUDGETS: Following an acknowledgement of Greece's
commitment to participate in UN, NATO, EU, and OSCE missions,
Venizelos cut to the chase on the state of Greece's large defense
budget: "On the other hand the financial burden which Greece is
paying for defense and security is excessively high when compared
to the price which is paid by other countries - members of the EU
and NATO. Greece's defense spending in GNP percentage brings her
in the second place after the United States of America. And
[since] this is happening within the conditions of an international
financial crisis you can understand that the price is heavy and
unproductive. The MOD's contribution to the effort to curtail the
country's financial problem, must be as much and as practical as
possible. Starting with the preparation of the draft for the
budget of FY 2010 we will make every effort in order to start
implementing a budget of programs and not a conventional,
self-reproduced budget. Our goal is to increase through series of
measures the effectiveness of spending at the average levels of
OSCE and most certainly - I must say this for the sector of Defense
- to drastically curtail waste."



MILITARY STRATEGY: "The Armed Forces mission is the maintenance and
augmentation of the country's diplomatic power. This is the
essential political and practical context of the country's defense
- deterrence doctrine which governs our policy. This is the only
way that the protection of the land, sea and air borders of the
country can be effectively achieved. This is

the only way, within a tough environment, our sovereignty makes
sense, our sovereign rights are protected and the jurisdictions
which derive form international treaties or international
organizations' resolutions are effectively exercised."



PROCUREMENT (+ OFFSETS): "The ineffective and almost ailing
situation which prevails in the field of the so-called offsetting
benefits (Comment: offsets) which do not produce the anticipated
results, is abolished. We have worked and we will keep working on
more comprehensive measures which are genuinely supporting the
Greek industry, the Greek business enterprises, to the extent that
is allowed by the EU law, in such a way that the country will be
acquiring defense technology in cutting-edge sectors, because it is
very important for the Armed Forces to be the innovators in Greece
too in the sector of research and development."



MILITARY OPERATIONS OTHER THAN WAR: "The Armed Forces contribution
to the effort against the illegal immigration flow in cooperation
with the Greek Police is evolving. The most important [role]
though is [the role] in the civil protection. Civil protection, the
management of crises because of natural disasters has become an
element of the core of national sovereignty of every state. It is
very significant operationally wise, for the Armed Forces to be
ready and to have adequate forces, adequate teams of properly
trained and equipped men. The citizen will feel that in any event
of earthquake, fire, flood the Armed Forces are there to protect
him, are tasked with the citizen's protection."



MILITARY REFORM: Venizelos devoted a significant portion of his
speech to plans for reforming the Greek military. Topics included
curtailing waste by better tracking fuel movement; bringing defense
program planning and evaluation under the aegis of Parliament's
Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee; restructuring the forces

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with an eye toward jointness, flexibility, and the ability to
deploy quickly; building a higher esprit de corps; and defending
the new policy, implemented under Karamanlis, of a nine-month
conscript service in the army.



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Our Initial Comments

--------------




4. (C) The neutral manner in which Venizelos discussed the U.S.
should be noted, in comparison to past public statements during his
extensive political career, which bordered on bombastic anti-U.S.
rhetoric. Supporting NATO publicly in Greece will never win a
politician of any party votes or favor, so Venizelos' cool comments
toward NATO came as no surprise, but we were struck by the fact
that Venizelos made no remark whatsoever concerning NATO's role in
providing greater security to Greece or southeastern Europe over
the years, and pointedly remarked that the greatest threat to
Greece has "always" come from within the Alliance rather than from
without.




5. (C) Greece has always been one of the few NATO Allies to earn
high marks in terms of defense spending (although the spending has
not always been prioritized rationally, or in ways to meet the
threats the Alliance faces today); however, both Papandreou and
Venizelos clearly have their sights set on trimming that budget.
Significantly, Venizelos tied desired Greek defense spending to
that of "OSCE levels," vice NATO levels. Should Venizelos prove
able to produce a budget in December with significantly reduced
spending, this will have ramifications on both Greece's NATO
deployments, as well as defense procurement from the U.S. We are
skeptical of his ability to deliver on the "two-sided projects"
domestically that would aim to deliver both a development and
defense aspect. This oft-repeated wish of Ministers past of
somehow integrating defense spending with community welfare
programs has never been achieved to any appreciable degree.




6. (C) We believe that Venizelos means business when he talks
about abolishing offsets in future defense procurement. We do not
have information at present that would lead us to believe that
Venizelos intends to renege on existing offsets arrangements with
U.S. defense companies. We do believe that he will make a push
with U.S. companies and those from other countries to attract more
co-production to Greece. However, MODs for the past twenty-five
years have sought to do the same, and Greece has never proven able
to effectively accomplish this due to a host of reasons, including
the small size of Greek defense-related entities, political
bickering, and the absence of clear "rules of the game" that
discourages foreign partners. The failing Skaramangas Hellenic
Shipyards and ongoing squabbles between German owners ThyssenKrupp
AG and the MOD are only the most recent example of this.




7. (C) Venizelos' value as an interlocutor of the United States
remains to be seen, and the Ambassador will meet with him in the
near future. An April 2008 Embassy report (ref B) while he was a
prominent opposition figure noted that despite Venizelos' public
persona as a frequently-bombastic critic of the U.S., in a meeting
with the Ambassador he was "unexpectedly moderate, pragmatic, and
thoughtful." A 2007 report while he was challenging for the PASOK
leadership (ref C) characterizes him as "sharp, witty, and
bullying," and describes him as "... while not anti-American, not a
great admirer of the U.S." Reftel A reported on Venizelos' career
notes. In his career, he has aligned himself with the "hawks" of

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his party on Turkish issues, though did, as Minister of Culture,
sign a Greek-Turkish protocol on reforming school history books to
reduce mutual hostility in their curricula.




8. (C) Unofficial Embassy translation of Venizelos' speech
follows:



BEGIN TEXT:

Ladies and Gentlemen members of the parliament, in a world full of
tensions, crises and insecurities it is very important for every
Greek man and Greek woman to sense that the country has Armed
Forces that carry out their mission within the framework of the
Constitution. The mission -and do not consider these words as
shallow clichC)s -- is the defense of the integrity, independence,
but also the dignity of the country. The Armed Forces mission is
the maintenance and augmentation of the country's diplomatic power.
This is the essential political and practical context of the
country's defense - deterrence doctrine which governs our policy.
This is the only way that the protection of the land, sea and air
borders of the country can be effectively achieved.



This is the only way, within a tough environment, our sovereignty
makes sense, our sovereign rights are protected and the
jurisdictions which derive form international treaties or
international organizations' resolutions are effectively exercised.
Most certainly of course in our era "sovereignty" mostly means the
ability to predict, deter and manage crises.



Greece wants to avoid tensions. [Greece] respects the agreed
confidence building measures but resists the flagrant violations of
international law which are manifested as threat of war or the
threat to use of violence.



I am sending out today from the floor of the Greek national
assembly, the message that our country has strategic composure and
good faith. [Our country] is not prone to react on impulsive, and
representational in nature provocations which lack depth.
Nonetheless [our country] is not going to accept any slack
regarding the protection of our national interests. In this
context, the Joint Defense Area of Greece and Cyprus; namely the
cooperation between two independent and sovereign countries
-members of the European Union, is of particular importance and not
only a symbolic one.



Ladies and Gentlemen members of the parliament, at the dawn of the
21st century patriotism is neither the bravado nor the harsh
rhetoric; patriotism is the thorough knowledge of history and the
good sense of the order of powers, regional and international, the
perpetual practical utilization of the margins that the subject
order accommodates, in such a way that actual results are produced
in relation to the defense of national interests.



Thus, it is very important for Greece, a country which is a member
of the European Union and the euro-zone, to formulate an active
policy within the framework of the European security and defense
policy, to co-formulate the European security and defense policy.



In the same context we have a complete sense of the significance of

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Greek-American relations also in the area of defense, relations
which despite of the difference of the volume between the two
states, are undoubtedly governed by the principle of mutual respect
and equality between the two sides.



Greece is an old historic member of NATO, since the mid-50s.
Nonetheless we have been always carrying the burden from the
self-evident fact that the country's major security problem
originates from within and not from outside of the Alliance.



Thus we are participating with extreme caution to the discussions
and the consultations for the new strategic doctrine and NATO's new
structure. Nonetheless, all issues associated with the operational
control, could become accepted only when they are clear regarding
their regulatory context and operational. We can not accept
anything different.



In this spirit, Greece participates in a large number of
international missions within the framework of United Nations,
NATO, European Union, OSCE. [Greece] participates in the defense
cooperation of SE European countries. Next Tuesday and Wednesday I
will participate in the SE European Countries Defense Ministers
conference, on Thursday and Friday at the informal conference of
NATO Defense Ministers. [Greece] has signed and implemented
numerous bilateral defense cooperation agreements always promoting
the aforementioned notion, which is a notion for the continuous
accommodation of peace and stability in the wider region.



On the other hand the financial burden which Greece is paying for
defense and security is excessively high when compared to the price
which is paid by other countries - members of the EU and NATO.
Greece's defense spending in GNP percentage brings her in the
second place after the United States of America. And [since] this
is happening within the conditions of an international financial
crisis you can understand that the price is heavy and unproductive.
The MOD's contribution to the effort to curtail the country's
financial problem, must be as much and as practical as possible.
Starting with the preparation of the draft for the budget of FY
2010 we will make every effort in order to start implementing a
budget of programs and not a conventional, self-reproduced budget.
Our goal is to increase through series of measures the
effectiveness of spending at the average levels of OSCE and most
certainly - I must say this for the sector of Defense - to
drastically curtail waste.

Since this sounds excessively abstract, I will give you an example
which I reckon will resonate our spirit:



A system of electronic control of the movement of fuel from and to
every direction will be imposed on the entire spectrum of the Armed
Forces. I believe that this will be the first actual and simple
case in point regarding the way we are increasing the effectiveness
of spending and how we are reducing waste. In the sector of
armaments programs a heavy cloud of suspicion is suspended over the
country for many years, which is often poisoning public life. We
are not as a government, I am personally not intending, and the
same applies for the Alternate Defense Minister Mr. Beglitis, to be
willing to tolerate the perpetuation of this situation. And while
perhaps the volume of defense programs is much smaller, vividly
smaller, from the entire public spending on the conventional
building projects or for investment on other cutting-edge sectors

such as for instance the energy, it is nonetheless very significant
for the MOD to apply exemplary transparency rules on defense
programs. Thus all relevant procedures from the stage of long-term

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planning and standards all the way to the final contract are placed
under the actual auditing of the National Assembly's Standing
Committee on Foreign Affairs & Defense to which we are proposing to
establish a special sub-committee in order for its work to be more
flexible and effective.



All contracts are under an actual and not a simply formal
pre-contract auditing by the [State] Audit Council. The relevant
legislation will be amended as soon as possible, in order to become
simple, transparent, easy to read and compatible to the relevant EU
guideline.



The ineffective and almost ailing situation which prevails in the
field of the so-called offsetting benefits which do not produce the
anticipated results, is abolished. We have worked and we will keep
working on more comprehensive measures which are genuinely
supporting the Greek industry, the Greek business enterprises, to
the extent that is allowed by the EU law, in such a way that the
country will be acquiring defense technology in cutting-edge
sectors, because it is very important for the Armed Forces to be
the innovators in Greece too in the sector of research and
development.



It is very important to promote in cooperation with the Ministries
of Finance and Economy, projects which you will allow me to label
as "two-sided projects," projects of simultaneous development and
defense, project of small, medium and large scale. In many
provinces of the country this is attainable and necessary. Thus, a
certain expenditure for a project which is developing in nature
also incorporates defense gains, which in many cases are many more
than the gains which are provided by very expensive but unreliable
and non-integrated weapon systems.



All these of course, require a new Armed Forces structure, a
structure -you have

heard this numerous times- based on jointness, with flexible units,
smartly manned, swiftly deployable which are utilizing the actually
available and not theoretically available human resources and which
certainly utilize all assets, [which] integrate completely the
weapon systems which the Greek people pay with its savings.



Our three goals for the operational sector are perpetual training,
modern functional assets and high esprit de corps. But the esprit
de corps presupposes a single method for the implementation of
command of the Armed Forces, which according to the Constitution of
course belongs to the government's jurisdiction. The government is
commanding the Armed Forces with the criteria of merit, equal
standards, state of law, the professionalism and capabilities of
each soldier to be able to comply with his position's demands. It
is only when the Armed Forces human resources -military and
civilian personnel- believes that his dignity and personality are
respected, it is only then that it is becoming productive [and] is
responding to the state's challenge.



The conscientious and effective discipline is based on the respect
of human rights in the Armed Forces. There is no Constitutional or
legislation gap in the military. And this is including the position
of the woman, the equality of sexes in the Armed Forces. All
personnel, military and civilian, should know, I want them to know,
that their problem is our problem, that the care of their families
is our care that their reasonable anxiety for their income, for
their social security situation, for their pension prospects is our

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anxiety, too.



The new law on the service situation of officers will formulate a
framework of transparent and secure development and completion of
the career of all officersaccording to their qualifications, their
merit, [and] all those that I mentioned before regarding
professionalism in the Armed Forces. The phenomenon of a whole Army
of young retirees, at an age in which they can perform, to return
the investment which country has made on them, will no longer
exist. I am addressing all Greek families, in all of our country's
children, those in conscription service and those eligible for
conscription. The 9-month conscription service is becoming an
actuality. Each young man who is recruited in the Armed Forces will
be certain that he joins an institution which is fair, rational and
civilized. The joke that the military begins where logic stops does
not apply any more. Each young man will be recruited in the Armed
Forces according to his formal and actual qualifications as this is
provided by the article 5, paragraph 1 of the Constitution.
Deviations will be tolerable only for legislated social reasons,
obvious and understandable to all.



But even this 9-month service will be a productive conscription
service, a creative experience, because every one will be able to
increase his qualifications and dexterities, to attend
second-chance schools, to attend vocational and training programs
in cooperation with the competent Ministry of Education. And all
these will be officially certified, in order to have a quid pros
quo -if you will, from the state to the young citizen who is
offering his armed services to the country.



In the same spirit we also looked already at the serious problem of
professional soldiers, the so-called EPOP. The relevant Army
recruitment process is coming to its completion. It will be
completed with the intervention of a legislative amendment which
will be excluding the parameter of the interview. The interview was
not conducted as this is imposed by the opinion finding of the
State Council and therefore it will be arranged legislatively to
re-draft the relevant [recruitment] rosters. This means a 4.7%
change but the 100% of the interested persons and their families
will rest assured that this time transparent and objective criteria
prevailed.



The recruitments in the Air Force and the Navy are starting now and
will be completed according to this new framework.



The Armed Forces are serving the society not only by accomplishing
their main mission which I described in relation to the defense of
the integrity and independence of the country, but also on a daily
basis. The Armed Forces are giving life and can give much more life
to numerous islands and desolated provinces.



The Armed Forces contribution to the effort against the illegal
immigration flow in cooperation with the Greek Police is
determining. The most important [role] though is [the role] in the
civil protection. Civil protection, the management of crises
because of natural disasters has become an element of the core of
national sovereignty of every state. It is very significant
operationally wise, for the Armed Forces to be ready and to have
adequate forces, adequate teams of properly trained and equipped
men. The citizen will feel that in any event of earthquake, fire,
flood the Armed Forces are there to protect him, are tasked with
the citizen's protection.

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The [deactivated] military installations will be indeed given
wherever there is an urban webbing to the local communities in the
context of the new urban development and environmental concept
which has to prevail all over the country. The medical
infrastructure and capabilities of the Armed Forces will offer as
many more services to the Greek society as possible without
undermining the planning and readiness of the Armed Forces.



Finally the thing that we call "model of green development" in the
controlled space of the Armed Forces can find an immediate and
effective implementation, not only in relation to energy and the
management of waste and garbage but also in relation to the
construction and operation of installations and military
infrastructures in general. Ladies and gentlemen of the national
assembly, the Armed Forces area, the area of National Defense is
the privileged and necessary field of consensus. We will respect
this. This is the mission that the Alternate Defense Minister
Mpeglitis and I have been tasked with and have the obligation to
the Prime Minister, the National Assembly and the Greek people to
accomplish completely and with absolute sense of responsibility.



With these thoughts I am calling you to provide a vote of
confidence to the Government.
Speckhard