INTERVIEW Hellenic National Defence General Staff Chief: Defence budget places us in a 4-NATO states' club

Greece is "very preoccupied" with the NATO flank in Eastern and South Europe, General Mikhail Kostarakos, the Hellenic National Defence General Staff's (HNDGS) Chief said in an interview with AGERPRES.

"The political volatility and the stability level's degradation we are facing in the countries of this region bring threats to the security, affecting not only the neighbouring countries," the Greek official adds.

General Kostarakos says that his country has transformed the financial crisis into an opportunity, so the funds allocated to the defence expenditure count for 2.34 percent of the Gross Domestic Product, which place Greece "in a small club of four NATO member states fulfilling the over 2 percent commitment."

Talking about the Smart Defence and Pooling and Sharing concepts, the Hellenic National Defence General Staff's Chief highlights the significance and necessity of these concepts for the coordinated development of the defence capabilities.

As regards the collaboration with the Romanian Defence Ministry, General Kostarakos stresses that the target is to expand and upgrade the current cooperation.

AGERPRES: NATO has announced that an important item on the agenda of the incoming summit meeting in Wales regards upgrading its collective defence capacity and rethinking defence investment so that the alliance may be prepared to meet any challenge. Given the latest developments in the security environment of the Eastern Europe, how do you think this important objective should be approached? What are the practical solutions envisaged by Greece?
Mikhail Kostarakos: For over 65 years NATO has been at the forefront of building stability in an unpredictable word. It underpins our freedom and security from the...