By Vasilis Nedos
Athens sees the visit by Marco Rubio, secretary of state and national security adviser to President Donald Trump, as evidence of broader U.S. confidence in the role Greece has played in the region in recent years.
Rubio’s visit also comes at a critical moment in Greek-Turkish relations. Although they are not officially on the agenda, those relations invariably cast a shadow over such meetings, particularly as the State Department chief will not be stopping in Ankara during this tour.
Signing agreements
Rubio arrived in Athens last night and will begin his day today at the Foreign Ministry, where he will meet Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis. The two will hold talks and deliver joint statements at the ministry’s neoclassical building on Vasilissis Sofias Avenue. The opening consultations of the sixth round of the Strategic Dialogue will also take place there.
Discussions will then move to the Conrad Athens, The Ilisian hotel, where agreements covering individual areas of cooperation will be signed.
First will be a letter of intent to establish cooperation between the Greek Armed Forces and the Florida National Guard. It will be signed by the chief of the Hellenic National Defense General Staff, Gen. Dimitrios Houpis, and the head of the Florida National Guard, Maj. Gen. John Haas, in the presence of Rubio and Defense Minister Nikos Dendias.
This will be followed by a Culture Ministry agreement renewing an existing memorandum on import restrictions for certain categories of archaeological and ethnological material. A working lunch on global affairs will follow.
Further agreements will then be signed on security and law enforcement, involving the Ministry of Citizen Protection, as well as energy, shipping, technology, trade, and investment.
The two countries will also sign an agreement on the recognition of seafarers’ certificates of competency. The meetings at the hotel will conclude with defense discussions, with the Greek delegation led by Ambassador Michalis Spinellis, the Defense Ministry’s director general for international relations and strategy.
Strykers in the parade?
As Kathimerini has previously reported, the United States wants to advance a series of agreements covering weapons and systems for F-16 Viper and F-35 aircraft, ongoing support, and the provision of surplus military equipment.
The Greek government hopes to secure the 76 Stryker armored vehicles available immediately—potentially in time to appear in the March 25 parade—as well as access to about 500 more that other NATO countries appear not to have claimed yet.
Rubio will also have other meetings during the day, although these have not yet been confirmed.
At 6:30 p.m., he will deliver a speech at the Pnyx. His address will portray Athens as the cradle of Western civilization, tracing a direct historical line through the Roman legacy and Christianity to the founding of the United States 250 years ago.
Assistant Secretary of State Dylan Johnson outlined that theme yesterday in response to a question from Breitbart. Johnson said that, with the Acropolis as his backdrop, Rubio would describe ancient Greece as “the first full expression of the qualities that would define the West: curiosity, courage, ambition, and a restless spirit of exploration and discovery of the unknown.”
According to Johnson, the U.S. secretary of state “will warn that much of civilization has forgotten these foundational values and will urge our allies across the West to join the United States in rejecting decline, defending our shared heritage and confronting a new era of great-power competition.”
Immediately afterward, Rubio will head to the Maximos Mansion, where he will meet Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
