SYRIZA leader wants investigating committee on submarine contracts; minister replies

The contracts for four submarines commissioned by Greece, which are currently languishing unfinished at Hellenic Shipyards in Skaramangas, were a "huge political and economic scandal that must be investigated", main opposition SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras said on Thursday. He announced that he intended to table a proposal for a special Parliamentary investigative committee to look into the issue "in the immediate future".

"It is your inalienable right to do so," National Defence Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos replied, "but leave all insinuations aside because this government is not afraid of any investigative committee. The present government's stance is so clear that nothing frightens it."

Tsipras said the present government was responsible in that it did not revoke an agreement signed in 2010 by then-ministers Evangelos Venizelos and George Papaconstantinou for the submarines "which opened a dirty conduit that has not been shut down to date."

"There is something rotten in the 2010 agreement," Tsipras added. "We must investigate the case fully," as "it's not just Akis Tsochatzopoulos who is implicated," the opposition leader said, referring to the former PASOK defence minister who was recently found guilty on armaments kickbacks and money laundering charges.

Noting that the submarines represented a "fortune" that was being left to rust as Greeks suffered punishing austerity to pay for the country's debts, Tsipras asserted that "a crime against the Greek state is taking place at the shipyards".

"Greek tax payers and the Greek state have paid a heavy price of 2.5 billion euros for the submarines that are now denied to the Armed Forces, while 1,200 fired employees have been turned out onto the street," he said.

SYRIZA's leader pointed out that Parliament had passed legislation that deprived the Greek state of any offset benefits and allowed "pseudo-investor" to take over without putting up any money or guarantees, but but had actually received 350 million euro in order to now keep the four virtually completed submarines 'hostage'.

The main opposition leader also accused the European Union of "hypocrisy" for refusing to let the Greek side support its shipyards, whose workforce was now left jobless, when they had approved similar actions in other countries.

Replying, Avramopoulos said the submarines were "a major national issue" and a concern shared by all sides. He said the government's goal was to preserve Greece's shipbuilding capacity, as well as to protect the property of the Greek state and the Hellenic Navy. He stressed that not one euro will be paid to the shipyard owners without Parliament's approval or if their obligations were not fulfilled.

"Not one euro will be paid if the submarines are not delivered," Avramopoulos stressed.