Europe needs Greece for its own security

What is at stake in Sunday's (5 July) referendum on the bailout reform plan is no less than Greece's place in Europe and Europe's security, a former Greek army chief told EUobserver.

A No vote could cut Greece from its allies and create instability in the region, General Christos Manolas said in an interview, but added that army meddling is "not even in question".

While much of the debate has been about the orientation of Europe economic policies, the irreversibility of the euro or even the integrity of the European union, the future of Greece is also a geopolitical and geostrategic issue, said Christos Manolas, who was the Greek army's commander-in-chief for a year from February 2014.

"Greece needs Europe and Europe needs Greece," he said.

"Greece is the only country in the region that has been in the EU since the '80s and in Nato since the '50s. It is a security provider rather than a security consumer."

Buffer country

In recent weeks, the US made clear that Greece's stability was in their national interest and German media reported chancellor Angela Merkel i's concerns about Greece turning to other partners.


"We need to stabilise the Southern front and I would ask for more solidarity from our Northern partners."

According to the general, the situation in the Middle East and North Africa as well as migration are two key areas in which neither Greece nor its European and American partners can afford less cooperation.

"The region of Thessaloniki and Crete can be used to launch operations in the Middle-East and in North Africa," he said.

"Both areas control, alongside the Greek islands, the sea line from North to South, and the horizontal axis from Gibraltar to Cyprus, which affect the traffic through the Suez canal, what we call a choke point"

"Greece is used as a buffer country by our partners" on migration and "if Greece remained isolated with no funding, the overall security system would be negatively affected".

Balkan tinderbox

The Balkans are a special concern, the general said.

"Albania, FYROM [the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, its official name because Greece rejects the name Macedonia], Serbia and Bosnia are neither EU nor Nato members. There is a security vacuum, the Balkans can easily export their instability, and it is a region that just need a spark to catch fire."

On the eastern border, relations with Turkey have been shaky lately, with an increase of Turkish violations of Greek territorial waters and airspace.

"The big issue with Turkey is the administration of the Aegean sea, which we consider is our vital space. Turkey wants to co-administrate the Aegean waters and it is something that leads to frictions," Manolas observed.

Since prime minister Alexis Tsipras i came to power in January, he went to Russia three times and signed a gas deal with Russia's Gazprom, prompting European worries that he would be ready to switch alliances.

But Manolas believes fear of turn towards Russia are overblown.

"Some may have beliefs and ideas at individual levels, but the government policy on the country's orientation is crystal clear. Greece is a member of the European Union and of Nato," he said.

"We have good cultural and trade relations, mainly because of religion, and Russians come as tourists and spend money here. But this is as far as it goes," he said.

"Everybody knows it, even the Russians."

Keep tension low

After five years of crisis, Greece internal stability is also under scrutiny.

"People become slowly indignant and exasperated. They feel like cats pushed in the corner," Manolas said.

The heated debate between Yes and No supporters prompted many ordinary Greeks and officials, including Tsipras, president Prokopis Pavlopoulos and defence minister Panos Kammenos, to repeatedly call for unity whatever the referendum outcome.

Greek leftist and right-wing extremist groups regularly resort to violence and some observers say that the referendum campaign revived memories the 1940s civil war and the competition between communists and nationalists.

"Radicalism may rise when the social situation worsens," Christos Manolas said. "When one has nothing to lose, it's easy to become radical. All kind of scenarios are possible."


But he excluded the idea that the military could decide to intervene, either to stop eventual unrest or to topple Tsipras' government.

"The army is a law abiding institution," Manolas said.

"As in every Western society, there is political control of the armed forces in Greece. It is not in the mindset of the officers to think of any constitutional divergences. That is not even in question."