The French magazine Marianne quotes the views of Professor Panayotis Tsakonas in its article “Between an unpredictable United States and a weakened European Union, France and Greece are strengthening their military partnership”, which addresses the upgrading of the Greece–France strategic partnership.
Read the article here (in French).
Excerpts from the interview:
…Paris and Athens wish to go even further. “In such a dangerous world, it is important for Greece to have a loyal ally like France”, emphasizes Panayotis Tsakonas, Professor of International Relations at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. According to the security and foreign policy expert, who is also a researcher at the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP), “in the face of challenges and threats in the Mediterranean region, it is important that this special strategic agreement be updated and strengthened.”
With the mutual assistance clause, “France constitutes the only credible guarantee Greece has against the Turkish threat. It would provide military support in the event of an attack”, Tsakonas states. When drafting the agreement in 2021, the partners sought to turn it into a model that could foreshadow a future European defence framework.
For Tsakonas, “interoperability through joint military exercises” must now be enhanced. On the other hand, equipment sales combined with production across multiple European locations could indicate that a European defence industry is emerging. “For Greece and France, strengthening an industrial and technological defence base is a priority”, he states.
“Since Trump’s election to the US presidency, Greece has found itself caught in an uncomfortable position between its two security guarantors, the United States on the one hand and the European Union on the other”, Tsakonas explains, adding that Greece “must find a balance between an unpredictable US and a weakened EU” in a region where the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East already serve as laboratories for global tensions.
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