France and Greece Sign Defense Pact Extension, Call for EU Debt Relief
ATHENS — France and Greece signed nine bilateral agreements on Friday, including an extension of their overarching defense pact, and jointly called for delaying repayment of post-pandemic loans and issuing more European Union bonds. French President Emmanuel Macron and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis oversaw the signing ceremony in Athens.
The defense pact extension deepens military cooperation between the two nations, both members of NATO and the European Union. The nine deals cover a range of sectors beyond defense, though the specific terms of each agreement were not detailed in the announcements.
Macron Calls Immediate Debt Repayment 'Idiotic'
French President Emmanuel Macron delivered a sharp critique of current EU fiscal rules during his visit to Athens. "It is idiotic" to immediately pay back post-pandemic loans, Macron said, according to Politico Europe. The French leader argued that forcing member states to rapidly repay the debt incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic would undermine economic recovery.
Macron’s statement came as France and Greece formally called on EU institutions to delay the repayment schedule for the €750 billion NextGenerationEU recovery fund. The two governments also urged the European Commission to authorize additional joint borrowing through new EU bonds to finance shared priorities, including defense and energy security.
Joint Push for Fiscal Flexibility
The Franco-Greek proposal represents a coordinated challenge to the fiscal hawks within the EU, particularly Germany and the Netherlands, who have insisted on strict repayment timelines and budget discipline. France and Greece argue that the economic shocks from the pandemic, followed by the energy crisis and inflation, require continued fiscal flexibility.
The call for more EU bonds signals a desire to expand the bloc’s common debt issuance beyond the temporary NextGenerationEU program, which was established in 2020 as an emergency response to the pandemic. Greece, which emerged from a decade-long debt crisis in 2018, has been a vocal advocate for permanent EU fiscal tools.
Defense Cooperation Deepens
The extended defense pact builds on a strategic partnership established in 2021, when Greece purchased 18 Rafale fighter jets from France and signed a deal for three Belharra-class frigates. The new agreement includes provisions for joint naval patrols in the Eastern Mediterranean, intelligence sharing, and coordinated military exercises, according to officials from both governments.
France has positioned itself as Greece’s primary European defense partner, particularly amid tensions with Turkey over maritime boundaries and energy exploration rights in the Eastern Mediterranean. The pact extension reinforces Paris’s strategy of building a European defense industrial base independent of the United States.
The nine bilateral agreements signed Friday cover additional areas including energy cooperation, digital transformation, and cultural exchanges. The two governments scheduled a follow-up summit in Paris for later this year to review implementation of the deals.