France and Greece sign multibillion-euro defense deal

France will supply Greece with warships under a new defense deal, the two countries announced on Tuesday. The deal, which reportedly amounts to €3 billion ($3.5 billion), comes after France's stinging loss of a major submarine deal with Australia.

As part of the deal, Greece will get three French-made Belharra frigates with an option to buy one more.

During the signing ceremony with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, French President Emmanuel Macron said the recent fallout of its submarine pact with Australia in favor of the United States would not impact France's strategy for the Indo-Pacific region.

"We have 1 million fellow citizens who live in this region, and over 8,000 soldiers deployed there," Macron said, referring to France's presence through several overseas territories in the region.

Macron asks Europe to 'stop being naive'

The French leader called Athens' decision to buy the ships "a sign of confidence" in France's defense industry.

He said the deal was part of a deeper "strategic partnership" between the two countries to defend their shared interests in the Mediterranean.

"The Europeans must stop being naive. When we are under pressure from powers, which at times harden [their stance], we need to react and show that we have the power and capacity to defend ourselves. Not escalating things, but protecting ourselves," Macron said.

Macron has long insisted that Europe needs to develop its own defense capabilities and move away from its reliance on US-made technologies.

Greece will maintain US cooperation

Mitsotakis praised his country's new deal with the French, but hinted that his country did not want to get tangled in current EU tensions with Washington over the Australia submarines row.

The Greek premier said the deal would not affect a US-Greece defense cooperation agreement currently under discussion.

The agreement is "not antagonistic" to the Greek-US relationship, he said.

"Today is a historic day for Greece and France. Today, with President Macron we have decided to upgrade our bilateral defense cooperation," Mitsotakis said.

He said the agreement involves "mutual support" and "joint action at all levels," though no financial details of the contract were given.

Last month, Australia scrapped a €32.8 billion submarine deal with France in favor of US nuclear-powered vessels. Paris said it had been blindsided by the arrangement. 

go/rs (Reuters, AFP, AP)