ATHENS 

Greece is negotiating to purchase secondhand frigates from Italy, local media said Tuesday.

Athens is advancing negotiations to acquire two Italian FREMM frigates, the Virginio Fasan and Carlo Bergamini, with a €580 million ($625 million) budget allocated for the purchase, daily Kathimerini reported.

Telling how Defense Minister Nikos Dendias recently visited the Carlo Margottini docked in Piraeus, near Athens, to review its operational capabilities, the daily said this shows the country’s strong interest in the ships.

It underlined that the government plans to prioritize the acquisition as part of a 12-year defense budget set to be announced soon by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis

Separately, the daily claimed that France’s Naval Group proposed Greece open a local shipbuilding line, likely at Skaramangas shipyards in the western Athens, to produce three more FDI- type frigates for the Greek Navy.

With the Greek political and military leadership aware of the plan and the French firm having approval from the French president and defense minister, the Greek Navy could have seven FDI-type frigates by the middle of the 2030s if the parties agree, it said.