SYRIZA: Government using national defence to further elections agenda
"In confusion due to its constant failures and scandals, the government is now enlisting national defence in its populist agenda to mislead ahead of the elections," according to a joint statement issued on Sunday by high-ranking officials within main opposition SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance, who are responsible for defence issues.
It accused the government of bringing "fragmented" legislation to deal with issues concerning armed forces' personnel that "has caused general concern during public consultation", expressing hope that the final text will be "drastically changed" before it is tabled in parliament.
The statement was particularly scathing about attempts to play down the significance of the sale of U.S. F-16 Viper war planes to Turkey, even though the government had until recently touted the blocking of this contract as a "huge success" for which Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was personally responsible.
The announcement was also scathing about the "disappearance" of main opposition leader Alexis Tsipras from photographs posted by the Hellenic Navy General staff from the celebration of Epiphany in Piraeus port.
Lastly, they referred to the phone tapping issue and said the prime minister has still not answered whether he was 'legally or illegally' monitoring the phones of the chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff and other senior military officers.
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