The Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and Vice President Evangelos Venizelos met at Maximos Hall yesterday, to discuss a number of pressing matters including the situation in Syria.
The coalition government leaders talked for about an hour and a half and decided that Greece to support a political solution to the Syrian conflict. Should all diplomatic options be exhausted though and NATO makes a request, Greece will comply with its international obligations.
This means that Greece will grant NATO use of its bases in Greece, but the two leaders decided that Greece would not participate in any other way.
The Minister of Finances Yannis Stournaras also attended the meeting and brought up the issue of restructuring and privatizing part of the State-owned defense industries (LARKO, ELVO and EAS). At the end of the meeting Mr. Stournaras claimed that the final decisions will be made next week and ruled out the possibility of dismissals.
In preparation for the possibility of refugee waves from Syria, an emergency meeting is scheduled to take place at the Ministry of National Defense on Friday morning, with the participation of the General Secretaries from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, the Interior, Public Order, Health and Shipping.
The leaders of the National Defense General Staff, Army, Navy, Air Force, Hellenic Police, Coast Guard, Fire Brigade and Central Intelligence Services are also invited to participate in the discussion.
