ATHENS — French Defense Minister Florence Parly, speaking on behalf of President Emmanuel Macron, thanked President Katerina Sakellaropoulou for the warm welcome at a brief address during the state dinner for foreign dignitaries on Wednesday evening.

Parly arrived in Greece on Wednesday evening to attend events for the bicentennial of the Greek Revolution (1821), including a military parade on Thursday.

Speaking at the Presidential Mansion, Parly quoted the late former French President Francois Mitterrand, and she said that "all our reference point are here, in this land, in this light and in these colors".

People in France and across the world feel great enthusiasm when they think of Greece's great struggle for freedom, she noted, and for standing up to oppression and spoke of "a great love uniting the two peoples for 200 years."

Being a Philhellene means being a friend of freedom, of justice and of solidarity, she concluded.