Greece tables ratification bills for MLCC and air-policing cooperation with Italy
Two Defence Ministry bills filed on 13 November concern the 2011 MLCC memorandum and the 2025 Greece–Italy air-policing agreement. Both remain at the submission stage.
Greece’s Ministry of National Defence submitted two treaty-ratification bills to Parliament on 13 November 2026: one concerns the Multinational Logistics Coordination Centre (MLCC), and the other cooperation with Italy against non-military aerial threats. Parliament lists both as submitted, with the Standing Committee on National Defence and Foreign Affairs responsible for consideration. Neither has passed, and their submission is not an announcement of an operational deployment.
The MLCC bill concerns a memorandum signed in 2011 by the relevant authorities of the Czech Republic, Greece, Poland, Slovakia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Greece signed on 20 July 2011. The text governs the centre in the Czech Republic, including its operation, funding, staffing, equipment and support, and arrangements for personnel assigned to it.
The accompanying impact assessment describes the MLCC’s purpose as strengthening logistics capabilities, addressing shortages and reducing costs through multinational support solutions for operations and exercises. It supports the work of NATO’s Allied Commands but is not part of the NATO Command Structure.
For Greek participation, the General Accounting Office identifies expenditure on personnel assignments and possible contributions or operating-cost sharing under separate agreements. It gives no fixed total: costs depend on actual circumstances and would be met from the Defence Ministry budget.
The agreement between Greece and Italy was signed in Rome on 12 May 2025. The second bill proposes its ratification, covering the conditions for cooperation, information exchange and joint air-policing actions against non-military aerial threats. The area of mutual interest includes both countries’ national airspace and international airspace within the flight information regions under each country’s exclusive responsibility.
The text requires mutual approval by the competent national authorities for cross-border use of air-policing aircraft. Warning shots and engagement remain exclusively national responsibilities outside the agreement’s scope. Detailed cross-border operating procedures are to be set out in a technical arrangement.
The corresponding General Accounting Office report identifies expenditure on supporting Greek aircraft in Italy and securing their equipment, alongside possible search-and-rescue and compensation costs. Again, no fixed sum is specified: expenditure depends on missions, circumstances and the technical arrangement, and would be covered by the relevant Defence Ministry appropriations.
Both bills distinguish the future law’s commencement from the entry into force of the international text it would ratify. Each proposed law would take effect upon publication in the Government Gazette. For the MLCC memorandum, the bill refers to paragraph 15.1, which links entry into force to the specified signatures: the framework nation and at least three signatories of the Letter of Intent, and subsequently each remaining signatory’s own signature. The Greece–Italy agreement requires receipt of the last of two diplomatic notifications confirming completion of the countries’ internal legal procedures. Today’s development is the submission for ratification of two previously signed texts.
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