Dendias: A joint European defence shield is needed, modelled on the ‘Shield of Achilles’

Greece’s Minister of National Defence, Nikos Dendias, took part on Monday in the meeting of defence ministers of the Adriatic-Ionian Initiative (ADRION), held in Venice, where — as ProtoThema reports — he stressed that a joint European defence shield needs to be created, modelled on Greece’s planned multi-layered air defence system, the “Shield of Achilles”.

According to ProtoThema’s reporting, the meeting was held aboard the historic Italian navy vessel “Amerigo Vespucci”, anchored in Venice, hosted by Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto and attended by the defence ministers of Albania, Croatia, Montenegro and Slovenia.

The focus of the meeting was cooperation among the Adriatic and Ionian countries to strengthen security, stability and operational cooperation in the wider region, including the Mediterranean, while contemporary security challenges and the need for a strong collective European defence approach to face them were also discussed.

Dendias underlined that his country’s objective is to contribute, with consistency, strategic vision and an active presence, to shaping a stronger regional security framework, with international law and the international law of the sea as stable points of reference.

On the bilateral level, the Greek minister discussed with his Italian counterpart the possibility of transferring two used Italian minesweepers to Greece, and also met with Slovenia’s Defence Minister Valentin Hajdinjak to deepen bilateral relations in the field of defence.