Greece External Relations Briefing: Greece and France Come Closer George N

ISSN: 2560-1601

Vol. 26, No. 4 (GR)

Febr 2020

Greece external relations briefing: Greece and France come closer George N. Tzogopoulos

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Kiadásért felelős személy: Huang Ping china-cee.eu 2017/01

Greece and France come closer

While Greece is encountered with Turkish muscular foreign policy in the Eastern Mediterranean, it is endeavoring to build powerful diplomatic alliances. France is a country it can count on. Greece and France share a joint vision about security and geopolitics in the Eastern Mediterranean and are making steps to enhance their defense collaboration. In the end of January 2019 Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was welcomed by French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris and in the end of February Defense Minister Nikos Panagitopoulos hosted his French counterpart Florence Parly. The potential acquisition of Belh@rra frigates by the Greek government will stamp the already excellent partnership.

2020 is expected to be challenging for Greek foreign policy. The determination of Turkey to proceed with research drillings in parts of the Eastern Mediterranean which do allegedly belong in its continental shelf has caused serious concern to Athens. In particular, the memorandum of understanding signed between Ankara and Tripoli in November 2019 will be possibly followed by the granting of new licenses for Turkish Petroleum Corporation to search for hydrocarbons in the designated area. On 19 February 2020 Greece sent a letter to the UN Secretary General characterizing Turkish claims regarding the outer limits of its continental shelf in the Eastern Mediterranean that are west of longitude 32º16’18”E ‘unsubstantiated and legally unfounded’. The letter also mentions that the Turkish claims regarding the delimitation of maritime zones west of meridian 28º00’00”E ‘infringe on the indivisibility of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Greece’.

One of the countries which publicly supports Greece in the current phase of tensions of Greek-Turkish relations is France. France, for example, considers the afore-mentioned memorandum of understanding signed between the Turkish and the Libyan government ‘illegal’. Against this backdrop, Athens and France have attempted to forge closer ties at the beginning of 2020. On 29 January Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis went to the French capital in order to meet with President Emmanuel Macron. It was his second visit to Paris after the one of August 2019, less than two months after his victory in the national election of July. But the second visit of Mitsotakis was rather different from the first because it was largely shadowed by developments in the Eastern Mediterranean. Although Turkey had already started to employ a muscular foreign policy in August 2019, the signing of the memorandum of

1 understanding in November certainly fueled uncertainty and led Greece to intensify its international efforts in seeking diplomatic protection.

The January 2020 between Macron and Mitsotakis was marked by a spirit of solidarity and common understanding. The French President spoke about a shared geopolitical vision for Europe and the Mediterranean. He reiterated the position of his country in support of Greece and Cyprus against the provocations caused by Turkey. In the press conference Macron also criticized Ankara for its actions in Libya which – in his view – jeopardized the ceasefire agreed in the Berlin conference. For his part, Mitsotakis talked about a new roadmap for a new strategic partnership to significantly enhance bilateral relations and insisted on the Greek position that disputes in the Eastern Mediterranean needed to be resolved on the grounds of international law. Accordingly, he said that the annulment of the Turkish-Libyan memorandum of understanding should be a prerequisite for any political solution in Libya.

An important sector of the Greek-French partnership is that of defense. On 23 December 2019 Greece signed contracts to upgrade its Mirage 2000 fleet with French companies Dassault Aviation, Safran Military Engines and Thales. Hot issues on the agenda of bilateral negotiations are the potential upgrade of NH-90 helicopters as well as the potential acquisition of two Belh@rra frigates by Greece. Both themes were discussed during the visit of French Minister of Defense Florence Parly in Athens on 24 February 2020. Welcoming his French counterpart Greek Minister of Defense Nikos Panagiotopoulos said that a strategic Greek-French partnership in security would be established by the end of June. For her part, Parly expressed her optimism for the conclusion of talks on the NH-90 helicopters and the Belh@rra frigates and repeated that Paris fully realized the challenges against security and the law. It is worth- mentioning that – before her visit to Greek capital – Parly had given an interview to To Vima in Sunday newspaper asserting that France intended to stand by Greece and ‘help it to confront multiple tensions in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean.’ The French Minister of Defense had already visited Cyprus and is expected to pay a visit to Egypt in the future.

In the context of growing collaboration in defense affairs a number of agreements between Greek and French agencies of industry and research were signed in the French Embassy on 13 February. The agreements are placed in the context of the potential acquisition of Belh@rra frigates and aim at strengthening the capacity of Greek agencies and enriching naval innovation and technological wealth. According to the Ambassador of France to Greece Patrick Maisonnave the enhanced industrial cooperation between the two countries will lead to positive economic and technological results paving the way for the creation of a ‘Europe of defense’.

In January and February 2020 France endeavored to play an active role in the Mediterranean and make its presence evident. On 8 January a meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Greece, Egypt, Cyprus, France and Italy met in Cairo to discuss developments in the region. This meeting aimed at forging an understanding among the different states on how to jointly respond to challenges. A few days later France asked to join the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum. Other members include Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Greece, Italy, the Palestinian Authority and Jordan which attempt to benefit together by natural gas discoveries. Turkey and Lebanon are not part of the Forum that is expected to become a recognized international body. The interest of France can be attributed to its will to boost its presence in the Mediterranean as well as on the involvement of the French company Total in research drillings in the exclusive economic zone of Cyprus.

As far French military presence in the Mediterranean is concerned, significant military drills were organized. The French amphibious assault ship Dixmude that serves as a helicopter carrier and docked in Piraeus, participated in drills with Turkey and Germany as well as Greece and the US. More importantly, the French aircraft carrier group composed notably of aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, supply ship Var and Greek navy frigate Psara made a port call in Limassol while the multi-mission Frigate Auvergne docked in Larnaca, The Cypriot Guard also participated in exercises. A press release of the Embassy of France in Cyprus focused on the close relationship between Nicosia and Paris. President of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades visited the French aircraft carrier and said its presence in Cypriot waters confirmed the qualitative upgrading of Cypriot-French relations. Last but not least, French Rafale fighters conducted drills with Israeli F-16s and are expected to be present in May in Greece, when ‘Iniochos 2020’ exercise will take place.

Looking towards the future, France has asked Greece to consider the possibility of a significant cooperation of its armed forces on the African field to combat terrorism and neutralize trafficking before it reaches the coasts of the Mediterranean. While the answer of the Greek government cannot be anticipated, it recently made an unusual decision for traditional Greek foreign policy standards by sending a Patriot missile systems to Saudi Arabia showing an initial appetite to become involved in complicated international fronts. For its part, Greece wants to become a full member in the French-led ‘European Intervention Initiative - EI2’ and Paris is currently considering the Greek candidacy. During the press conference with Florence Parly, Nikos Panagiotopoulos said that Athens shared the view of Paris about the European defense and seeks to utilize new capabilities.

While Greece and France are on the same wavelength concerning developments in the Eastern Mediterranean, they do not necessarily agree on all aspects of foreign policy. An example is the recent decision of President of France Emmanuel Macron to delay the potential adhesion of Western Balkans countries to the EU. He believes that the EU is currently unprepared to accept new members and should first empower its decision-making mechanism before proceeding towards a new enlargement. By contrast, Greece traditionally supports the European orientation of countries of the Balkan Peninsula hoping for more stability as well as envisaging to play a leading role in the region. In November 2019, Prime Minister Mitsotakis had given an interview to the Financial Times criticizing the stance of Macron. At the time of writing Greece is highly concerned about political uncertainty in Northern Macedonia sparked by the French veto.

Conclusion

Greece and France are empowering their defense collaboration. Greece has already decided to upgrade its Mirage fighters and is considering a similar update of NH-90 helicopters and the potential acquisition of two Belh@rra frigates. The question is whether Greece will have the financial capacity to proceed after years of belt-tightening because of the economic crisis. In the view of Defense Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos, Greece should proceed in an organized manner to boost the level of readiness and deterrence as security and stability are considered as prerequisites for growth. The next months will show whether his words can be followed by practice.