The reaction of the Union of Employees of the Skaramanga Shipyards (Trident) was caused by the Prime Minister's statement, Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Parliament, in the context of the ratification of the Agreement with France.
“So the choice of the Greek Government for the frigates - I stress this - was clear: to achieve the best possible cost and the greatest possible speed. And there was no doubt that if we chose to build a ship in Greece the cost would be higher. And in shipyards which we don't know at this moment whether they have the capacity to reliably build such a ship.”, Mr Mitsotakis said among other things.
For its part, the Shipbuilders“ Association, which is expected to pass in the next period into the hands of shipowner George Prokopiou, said in a statement that: “We expected the Prime Minister to at least announce that within the framework of the general agreement, some of the frigates or at least the ”interim' or reinforcement ships will be built in Greece. So that new know-how will be transferred to the Greek shipyards and new jobs will be created.
As we have heard so far that this is the government's goal. But instead, we heard the Prime Minister, instead of referring to and advertising the proven capabilities of the Greek shipyards, directly questioning them. He referred to the problems the shipyards have faced in the past to “support” this lack of confidence.”.
