Greece to protest Italian defense deal with Türkiye

Greece is preparing a formal protest against Italy over its defense deal with Türkiye.

The Greek government argues that Rome bypassed European regulations by approving the sale of Piaggio Aerospace to Türkiye’s Baykar without informing its EU partners, Kathimerini reported.

Greek officials insist that European defense cooperation must be transparent, especially when it comes to Türkiye, a NATO member with contentious relations in the region.

EU regulation 2019/452 requires such investments in state-controlled defense companies to be disclosed to all member states.

Athens claims Italy failed to do so before transferring ownership of Piaggio Aerospace, an Italian strategic aerospace company, to Baykar, known for its production of UAVs and drones.

A few days ago, Mitsotakis had a high-level meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron regarding the sale of ‘METEOR’ air-to-air missiles to Ankara.

Macron told Mitsotakis that negotiations on the sale of METEOR missiles were ongoing and had not yet been finalized, while underlining that the United Kingdom played an important role in the decision.