Greek National Defense Ministry sources refuted a report by French newspaper ‘La Tribune’ that Minister Nikos Dendias had ‘not responded’ to a request by his French counterpart Sébastien Lecornu for a meeting in Athens.
Lecornu, La Tribune said, had wanted to discuss developments in the issue arising from Greece’s opposition to selling Meteor missiles, built by a European consortium, to Türkiye.
National Defense Ministry sources detailed the contact between the two ministers. Dendias was in the United States when the initial request was made, they said, adding that the two counterparts did not manage to meet on the sidelines of the NATO defense ministers meeting in Brussels due to time constraints.
In the latest communication, and after a new request of Lecornu on February 28, in which he expressed his regret they had not met in Brussels, Dendias responded on March 1. He explained why the meetings were not held and repeated his open invitation to his French counterpart to meet in Athens. The visit will be arranged through diplomatic means for the near future, the sources said.
Eurofighter concerns
In his letter to Dendias on February 28, Lecornu forwarded the letter he (the French minsiter) had sent to this British counterpart, in which he requested that the United Kingdom take into account Athens’ concerns over the sale of Eurofighter Typhoon jets to Türkiye by Britain.
