Greece, Athens – Greece announced its 250 billion euro ($27 billion) multi-year re-contract program on Wednesday, becoming the first member of the European Union to take advantage of relaxed spending rules for defense.
The highlight of the program is a multi-layered defense system called Achilles’ Shield, and Prime Minister Kiriakos Mitotakis said that Congress “is essentially a dome that combines existing air defense with a new system, providing five levels of protection: anti-misil, anti-ballistic, anti-air, anti-navigable, anti-fleet, anti-gravel and anti-drone.”
It was Greece’s first multi-year comprehensive re-contract and part of a broader overhaul of the military, called Agenda 2030.
Mitotakis described the shift as “the most dramatic transformation in the history of the country’s military.”
As the world is changing at an “unpredictable pace”, he said, “We are now facing a different kind of war than what we were used to — at least the kind of things our army was prepared.”
Greece is a consistent high-defense spender due to its hostile relationship with Turkiye, and will spend 3% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defense this year.
As estimated by the Stockholm International Peace Institute, this is well above the European average of 1.9%.
Amidst the controversial US fidelity to the Russian war in Europe and NATO, the EU decided last month to raise up to 6500 billion euros ($70 billion) in additional defence spending other than the Book.
In 2023, total defense spending in Europe was $569 billion.
The EU also provided 15 billion euros ($163 billion) member states with low interest rate loans to strengthen the European defence industry.
The frontline states Greece and Poland fought hard for relaxed fiscal rules, and Mitotakis went even further in Parliament.
“The Greek government believes at some point we need to create a fund focused on shared (defense) benefits such as the European anti-missile shield, which allows Europe to cover all European countries and provide funding to member states rather than loans.
Mitsotakis’ reasoning was that assuming collective debt is more cost-effective than borrowing individually, as Brussels can raise funds cheaper than most individual member states.
The EU issued its first reciprocal debt during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, creating a 7300 billion ($850 billion) stimulus fund.
The 150 billion euro ($165 billion) recontract fund, known as Security Action for Europe (Safety), is made up of the money left in the fund.
From bankruptcy to European autonomy
Greece has traditionally bought primarily US arms, but bankruptcy during the global financial crisis since 2008 has inspired a more European trajectory.
Long-standing austerity halved the defense budget to $4.6 billion between 2010 and 2014. Meanwhile, Torkier’s economy and defense budgets have increased.
As it was inherited on a carefully balanced budget, Greece decided to exchange the amount.
Greece did not move into a European system as the US did not require it to maintain a balance between the two Eastern Mediterranean allies.
It was an early conversion to the cause of European strategic autonomy, defended by French President Emmanuel Macron.
In September 2019, Greece announced it would buy the $1.8 billion French Lafare Fighter bomber for $2.5 billion, raising that number to 24 a year later.
In 2021, Greece wrote a Strategic Defence Treaty with France, ordering three cutting-edge Bellharra Frigates to fourth place for 22.6 billion euros ($2.5 billion) from the French group navy.
Prime Minister Mitotakis welcomed the Parliamentary agreement as the basis for independent European defence policies.
“The defense of European interests against the Mediterranean is now gaining new material,” Mitotakis told Parliament four years ago. “If attacked, our country will have the only European nuclear power generation, the most powerful army on the continent.”
All 24 Lafares will be delivered at record times, with the first frigates scheduled for delivery this year, initially laying down for the French Navy.
Bellara carries French-made weapons and radar from MBDA, Thales and Dassault. These include sound speed and impact aircraft speed, ballistic missiles with drones and guided, MU90 torpedoes, the latest 200km range (124 miles) Exoset Antiship missile, 30 levels of speed on the Thales Sea fire radar, and surface-to-air missiles.
Lafale is also housed in French weapons, such as intermeteoral missiles in a range of 100km (60 miles) and surface scalps in a range of 500km (310 miles).
Last September, Greek Defense Minister Nikos Dendias said the second, third and fourth frigates would carry naval strategic scalp missiles over 1,000 km (620 miles).
None of these weapons are sold to Torkie, but the UK, part of the MBDA Consortium, is currently trying to sell meteor missiles to Ankara.
“There was a 7:10 rule since 1976,” said Angelos Sirigos, a professor of international law at the University of the Pantheon in Athens, referring to the pledge to supply Greece and Torkier in the United States according to a fixed proportion.
“It has permeated all systems. In recent years, this has changed. We don’t want proportionality, but we want a qualitative edge. Scalp and meteor missiles are qualitative advantages on the Greek side,” he told Al Jazeera.
For Greece, the number one priority is to build its own defence industrial base, with 12% of the Verara contract being sent to Greek companies. Dendias said it aims to include Greek companies in a consortium that builds European patrol corvettes.
However, Greece has not turned its back on the United States.
In 2018, Greece signed a $1.3 billion deal with US Lockheed Martin, upgrading the 85 F-16 Fighter Jet to the Viper level, with advanced radar and weapons systems.
Last year, they ordered a 20-generation F-35 plane from Lockheed Martin, hoping to jointly develop the next-generation US constellation frigate from Greek companies.
Konstantinos Filis, professor of international relations at the University of Greece, said, “Greece is obliged to balance the defense of the US and Europe. “It’s not a single track. And the EU and the US also need Greece, because it is in an area of strategic interest for both.”