Greece's Parliament on Thursday evening ratified a mutual defense cooperation protocol with the United States, with 175 deputies in the 300-MP legislature voting in favor, namely, deputies from ruling center-right New Democracy and the smaller KINAL social democrat grouping.
Thirty-three deputies from leftist SYRIZA party voted "present", while 80 MPs voted against.
"We are reinforcing the framework with our strategic allies. Not only with the United States but with other countries. The level of Greek-French relations was never better. In the next few days, I will visit Saudi Arabia and the UAE," Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis said from Parliament's podium during debate by the plenum.
The position by main opposition SYRIZA was closely scrutinized, given that as the ruling party a Tsipras government had negotiated and finalized the draft agreement by Washington, losing the general election in July 2019, however, before the agreement was ratified.
