Tanks make a comeback at national parades, courtesy of oil magnate

It has emerged that a major private sector oil-refining company will be sponsoring the fuel bill for armored vehicles taking part in a military parade on the streets of Thessaloniki, as part of the October 28 national holiday festivities.  

Defense Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos decided that tanks, armored personnel carriers and other mechanized vehicles should again be present at the parade, after an absence of almost three years. His decision effectively scraps a previous ruling which excluded armored vehicles from military parades, in an effort to make savings.

The ruling was introduced in 2010, when Greece was entering its bailout loan program and the then PASOK government was making cuts where it could. Unfortunately for Mr. Avramopoulos, PASOK is now not only his government’s junior coalition partner but the current party leader, Evangelos Venizelos, in his then role as defence minister had introduced the spending cut in the first place.

When Mr. Avramopoulos was confronted by PASOK as to where the money to cover the vehicles’ fuel bill would come from, he said that he had found a sponsor.

Mr. Avramopoulos is part of the New Democracy party, led by prime minister Antonis Samaras. Before forming a coalition after the June 2012 elections, New Democracy and Pasok were political opponents.

It later emerged that the sponsor for the fuel bill would be a company belonging to the Vardinoyannis family, owners of Motor Oil, an energy and oil-refining conglomerate valued at over €900 million. Apart from the energy sector, the Vardinoyannis family is also active in media and shipping. It is unclear whether Mr. Vardinoyannis's donation will or won't be tax deductible.

In a statement, PASOK said Mr. Venizelos’s decision to exclude armored vehicles from military parades, reduced costs by €3.1 million. The defense ministry on the other hand said that the extra cost of including armored vehicles was only €35,000. The discrepancy may or may not have to do with flyovers by military aircraft during parades.

There are two major military parades taking place in Greece each year, linked to two distinct national holidays. One on March 25, to celebrate Greek independence from the Ottoman empire, and one on October 28, to celebrate resistance to Axis powers at the beginning of WW2.

According to sources with knowledge of the situation, the defense ministry is also considering finding another sponsor, this time to cover the fuel bill for flyovers of F-16 fighter jets during the same parade.  

Analysts say that the Samaras government is making an effort for the October 28 military parade to return to its former glory, in order to boost national pride but also attract so-called ‘patriotic voters’, who had been won over by the ultra-nationalist Golden Dawn party.