Yellow and new: Macron's European independent defense ambitions, starting with Greece?

The Paper's reporter Yu Xiaoxuan

On September 28, 2021, local time, in Paris, France, French President Macron and Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis signed a defense agreement and a military procurement contract at the Elysee Palace. Surging image

"We are committed to the independence of Europe. This is part of our common struggle in Europe – technological independence, European defence and combat readiness. French President Emmanuel Macron said excitedly when he met with Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis at the Elysee Palace on September 28.

After two weeks with Australia's "submarine diplomacy" in Waterloo, France's defence industry is reviving. On September 28, France signed a defense and security agreement with Greece. Under the framework of the new defense alliance between the two countries, Greece will purchase 3 frigates from France. Greek media reported that France will supply Greece with 3 "Belhara" class frigates and 3 "chasing the wind" class corvettes.

Defense cooperation with Greece is undoubtedly a new encouragement for Macron. Since the announcement of the AUKUS defense agreement between the United States, Britain and Australia, Macron, who feels betrayed, has been trying to "sell" the idea of improving Europe's independent defense capabilities: Europe must reduce its dependence on the United States. Macron's European counterparts may have understood this better after the ship storm, and among them, Mitsotakis may have been the first to explicitly express support.

Greece became a "receiver"?

Since Greece announced the purchase of a new batch of frigates in September 2019, six countries, including France, the United States and the Netherlands, have participated in the bidding. According to the political news website Politico, the initial bid price in France was the highest, and then France submitted a changed offer, which was still the highest, but eventually won the bid.

The company that signed the order with Greece is the French defense industry company Naval Group, which has just been "put together" by Australia and the United States. Earlier, when the company's contract with Australia was still advancing as planned, the Naval Group, which was unaware of the Australia-U.S.-UK Agreement (AUKUS), received a call from the Australian Ministry of Defence and was surprised to learn that the $66 billion "big deal of the century" with the Australian side had failed.

In a statement sent to the www.thepaper.cn on September 28, the Navy said that the group's chief executive, Pierre Erik Pommelé, signed a memorandum of understanding with Greek Defense Minister Nicolas Panayotopoulos and European Missile Group (MBDA) CEO Eric Belange on the same day. The memorandum states that the three parties will negotiate the supply of three medium-sized universal frigates (FDI-HN) and one additional frigate of their choice to the Greek Navy, which will be built at the Naval Group's shipyard in Lorient, France.

Although the outside world has linked the newly signed order to the lost "big order of the century", Faza Zar Zaruel, the press officer of the Naval Group, denied in an interview with the surging news email that the ship agreement signed with Greece and the Australia-US-UK agreement (AUKUS) are directly related.

However, although the order with Greece is only worth $5 billion, less than a fraction of Australia's "big order of the century", in any case, the new cooperation between France and Greece was finalized shortly after the collapse of the Franco-Australian ship agreement, and this order really injected a "booster" into the frustrated French ambition.

"In order to propose this defense agreement and promote cohesion between the two sides, France is taking every action that can be done in Greece." Defence expert Faiston Karaiosifidis, publisher of the Greek magazine Flight, believes that France's defense agreement with Greece is not unrelated to AUKUS, "which will become the basis for the integration of European defense and the beginning of the development of the 'European Army'." ”

"Europeans must stop being naïve. When we are under pressure from power, we need to react and show that we are capable of protecting ourselves. Not to escalate things, but to protect ourselves. Macron said at a joint news conference with Mitsotakis.

In Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis, Macron appears to see a willing ally. At the Elysee Palace, Mitsotakis, standing next to Macron, praised his idea of creating a "European army" as a "mature proposal." "Today is a historic day for Greece and France." Mitsotakis called the ship order "the first step towards European independent defense" and "we share a common vision with President Macron in developing the necessary defense capabilities and European capabilities to respond autonomously to future challenges." ”

"Greece has a long history of wanting European defense autonomy, Turkey is an age-old problem, we used to want the EU and NATO to be our security providers, but for obvious reasons, we got zero." Panayotis Chaconus, a professor of international relations at the University of Athens who served as a special adviser to the Greek Ministry of Defense, said in an interview with The Paper, "Greece certainly supports European defense autonomy, and we will undoubtedly be the beneficiaries." ”

But Chaconus also pointed out that the pursuit of common European defense is a "very ambitious thing", and there is still a long way to go in the future for European countries to form common capabilities and wills, and the biggest variable is the attitude of Germany, another dominant player in the EUROPEAN Union.

"Common Enemy"

Against the backdrop of deteriorating relations between the EU and Turkey, Greece and France have also become increasingly close in recent years.

Last year, Greece and Turkey met closely as Turkey frequently dispatched oil and gas exploration vessels to disputed waters in the Eastern Mediterranean. Greece turned to the EU several times, but the EU imposed only "innocuous" sanctions on a few Turkish officials, and only France stepped forward in times of crisis — the French navy sent warships to assist Greece's 11 aging frigates cruising its Mediterranean territorial waters, and the two countries have since held several joint air and sea exercises in the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean.

Last July, a Greek deal to buy two French frigates for $3.3 billion was canceled because it was too expensive. However, in the face of Turkey's provocations, Greece has almost put up a posture of smashing pots and selling iron, and the government has raised 2.5 billion euros through bond auctions, which are planned to be used to buy 18 French fourth-generation Rafale fighter jets, and earlier in September, Greece increased the number of purchases to 24.

In 2018, Greece has signed a $1.3 billion deal with Lockheed Martin to upgrade its 85 F-16C/D fighter jets to the F-16V Viper and install more advanced radar and weapons systems on board. Al Jazeera analysis pointed out that in recent years, Turkey has greatly improved the level of defense industry, more than 70% of the country's weapon systems have been domestically produced, and with the F-16 undergoing modernization, Rafale and the purchase of frigates, Greece has gradually made up for the gap.

More importantly for Greece, greece received weapons from France that Turkey would never have. That's in stark contrast to Germany's decision to sell Turkey the type 214 submarines that Greece once bought.

"Since the sale of Mirage fighters to Greece [in the 1980s], this has been a strategic choice for France." Konstantinos Grevas, who teaches weapons systems courses at the Hellenic Army Academy, told Al Jazeera that "they're not going to sell Turkey the same thing." ”

France and Turkey have a long-standing feud. On issues such as the sovereignty dispute in the Eastern Mediterranean, the civil war in Libya, and the Syrian conflict, both sides held opposite views, and during the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the Nagorno-Karabakh region last year, the two countries also supported the opposing sides. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has openly asked Macron to undergo a "psychiatric examination", and Macron has long complained about this "NATO assassin". Faced with a "common enemy", France and Greece could only strengthen their cooperation.

Macron said after meeting with Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis that the order for three frigates would be part of a deeper "strategic partnership" between France and Greece aimed at defending the common interests of both sides in the Mediterranean. In addition, macron and Mitsotakis both mentioned that the two sides could take joint military operations in "areas of common European interest" such as the Sahel, the Middle East, the Mediterranean and the Balkans.

According to the French Ministry of Defence, the Fa-Greek strategic partnership includes a "mutual assistance clause" that includes, "If both parties jointly determine that an armed attack has taken place on the territory of one of the parties, the two sides shall assist each other in all appropriate ways and use force if necessary." ”

"It's not a simple arms sale. This is a strategic agreement to change the situation in the eastern Mediterranean. Speaking to the media about the defense agreement with France, Greek professor of international relations Dimitris Kyridis said, "France is filling a security vacuum in the region." It's a common defense agreement — and if we get into trouble, a nuclear Power and a permanent member of the Security Council are by our side. ”

However, Chaconus pointed out to the surging news that it is worth emphasizing that France's armed support for Greece is premised on the premise that the conflict "occurs on Greek territory", which means that France supports Greece's "sovereign rights" rather than "the right to claim sovereignty", which will not play a role in disputes and conflicts between Turkey and Greece on the exclusive economic zone involving oil and gas resources.

"This agreement is restrictive and we must take into account that Turkey's illegal (exploration) practices are likely to continue." "But now there is a deterrent against Turkey, and that's the most important thing that France brings us," Zaconus said. ”

Editor-in-charge: Hu Zhenqing

Proofreader: Ding Xiao