A left-wing opposition party in Greece on Tuesday criticized the sale of a major domestic defense company to Israel’s SK Group, which owns Israeli Military Industries (IMI) and Israeli Shipyards.
"It is not a simple sell-out, but another act of complicity of the (Kyriakos) Mitsotakis regime with the genocide in Palestine,” the New Left party said in a statement.
"At the time of the genocide, the Mitsotakis government, is tying the country to Israel’s chariot, proceeding with a nationally detrimental choice that gives away critical sectors on terms of servitude,” is said.
The party underlined that the sale of ELVO to the Israeli holding company is another episode in the selling out of critical public infrastructure and strategic industries.
"The loss of the most important Greek defense industry to foreign hands undermines the country’s national security and technological self-sufficiency,” it said.
Thessaloniki-based ELVO (Hellenic Vehicle Industry) has, for around five decades, produced buses, heavy utility trucks, military jeeps, armored vehicles and tanks, mostly under licenses from third parties, for the Greek Armed Forces.
In 2020, the sale of ELVO to an Israeli-interest consortium that comprises Plasan Sasa, Naska Industries – SK Group and Greek businessman Aristidis Glinis, was concluded for around $3.4 million.
SK Group announced Tuesday that it completed the 100% takeover of ELVO.
Tel Aviv would look for military support from Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration if it is attacked, the Greek daily Kathimerini quoted Israeli Transport Minister Miri Regev as saying.
Following reports that British and U.S. bases on the island support Israel’s attacks on Gaza, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Ersin Tatar accused the Greek Cypriot administration of endangering the island’s 50-year peace period by becoming a logistical base serving Western interests. Britain has two bases on the island of Cyprus, considered independent territories, allowing it to maintain a permanent military presence in the Eastern Mediterranean and conduct highly confidential military and intelligence activities. The bases host an extensive network of British and U.S. intelligence facilities, according to Declassified U.K., which reports on the work of military and intelligence agencies.
