“In a few months, on June 9, we have European elections. I want to put two pictures next to each other. Remember where Greece was both in relation to Europe and in relation to the rest of the world, a beggar’s Greece, a black sheep Greece, a Greece that everyone came together to discuss its problem. And think about all these years, the difficult years for everyone and, above all, for those who were most in need, where was Greece. Greece played a leading role in the Recovery Fund, Greece managed to grow its GDP and with the agreements with the surrounding countries, Greece managed and won defense agreements that we once could not even imagine and managed, yes, to be an equal interlocutor” he stressed the government representative, Pavlos Marinakis, in an interview this morning on SKAI and on the show “Kalimera” with the journalist Giorgos Autias.
“If anyone was at the Congress of the European People’s Party, they would understand why the Greek Prime Minister, why he is not only the President of the National Democratic Party, is now the protagonist. Our country is the protagonist” Mr. Marinakis continued and added “As Greece grows and strengthens, this will be returned to the taxpayer, it will be returned positively to the citizens. Greece will continue to grow and the income of its citizens will continue to grow.”
Asked about the next day’s bet on the non-state universities bill, the government spokesman began by commenting that “many times the silent majorities were oppressed. The most typical case is the case of higher education. Most of the students, some even organized, many others were independent, unaffiliated, oppressed at times. Because they didn’t want to wear a helmet, hold a bat, because they wanted when they got their degree to start finding a job – if they managed to find one in the country – because they were the ones that their parents sacrificed their efforts to educate them, they were those who did not want to destroy their schools so that all other Greek taxpayers would pay for the public property when it is restored. So they wanted to be able to study at a university that doesn’t close every three or so times, that there is no lawlessness asylum and if they want they can also study at non-state universities. Those people who fought, some of them never submitted to this peculiar fascism of a political space, now feel vindicated. And personally I feel very vindicated because this was also the reason why I started to deal more broadly with what we call politics through DAP-NDFK as a student of Law Thrace and I have the opportunity and the honor to represent the Government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis who made the first big a decisive step for branches of foreign HEIs to operate in the country, the revision of article 16 is imminent – I hope – and we have gone from words – which often did not become actions because unfortunately some others kept us attached to the past – to actions”.
According to Mr. Marinakis, the next day of the bill is “What was said by the Minister of Education, Mr. Pierrakakis, who really left nothing unanswered for three days in the Parliament. The next day, then, is the start of the implementation of all this, with strict rules, the strictest of any other country in Europe. And to give you an idea of how important this reform is, I’ll tell you one thing, the obvious: a young kid who doesn’t want to go to a public university or didn’t get into the school he wanted, wouldn’t have to pay a lot more money to go abroad. And this also shows his social dimension. Because those who have finished non-state universities abroad but do not want the new Greek to study here if he wants to in a non-state one, show their hypocrisy and an elitism, which is hidden. The second is that we currently have 40,000 Greek students abroad, more – not proportionally – in absolute numbers than any other country in Europe. Think how many people can return, how much money can come into the country. And another thing, how many jobs will be created in these institutions.”
And he added: “We will understand how important a breakthrough, how historic a reform the bill that was passed yesterday is for our country, within a few months, if we ask how important was for Cyprus what happened a few years ago when Greece was losing opportunities because PASOK made one of the first moves, of the many it has made in this matter”.
In response to a question about what the MEP elected with SYRIZA, Stelios Kouloglou, said yesterday, the government representative described it as “shocking”, noting that “He says that the prosecutions of people, citizens and even former Prime Ministers, ministers, therefore political opponents – remember what the Mr. Polakis “let’s put our political opponents in prison”…”it ties the knot” – it is not the result of a crisis, a decision of justice as provided by the separation of powers, but it was a political decision to put these people in the frame, to hang them pegs, which according to what Mr. Kouloglou says – not us, not the ND, not Mitsotakis, not the Government – the then Prime Minister knew. And the most shocking thing is that the former Minister of Justice of Mr. Tsipras, Mr. Kontonis, says exactly the same. In particular, he talks about a “para-ministry” of Justice, which operated in Maximos. So I come and tell you. The Justice decided these cases, an irrevocable discharge for these persons, Mr. Samaras, Mr. Pikrammenos, Mr. Venizelos, Mr. Georgiadis, Mr. Loverdos for all these ten persons, and I say the following, because I also went to Europe in the previous days to represent the Prime Minister for the rule of law and the responsible vice-president of the Commission spoke of progress and important steps because we speak with deeds and bills and not with slander. These sensitive people, those who go out of Greece while they are elected with the vote of the Greeks and are paid by the Greek and European taxpayers and slander the country, if they had a case of Minister of Justice of the N.D. who was talking about a para-Ministry of Justice and MEP of the ND, their colleague, who was talking about political decisions when talking about prosecutions, how many slanderous resolutions – which then would not be slanderous – would they have drawn up? How much would it be for the rule of law? All this is unprecedented. The separation of powers is a constituent element, a necessary condition for Democracy. In our country it seems that this was not respected by a Government and we cannot let it pass like this”.
Mr. Marinakis also referred to the statements of the MEP of SYRIZA, Costas Arvanitis, saying that “he cynically admitted and in fact with a second aggressive announcement – because he understood that he was caught in the lens, we understood this from the first moment – he said “indeed this specific article is my initiative”. That is, the article that says for all these slanders Greece should lose money. I will tell you something. At this moment there is not the slightest suspicion that something like this could be happening in the country and no one has even hinted at it, there is no journalist in detention, as many of your colleagues were, as you remember during SYRIZA-ANEL, there are no ministers of the N.D . or parliamentarians who put your faces, in the form of regulations threatening. And because these in Greece no longer exist and because Greece is no longer the black sheep of Europe at all levels, it bothers some. And they want to target, it is clear, the Greek Prime Minister”.
“Do you mean the Polakis proclamation?” asked the government spokesman to reply “All that we have seen. All these do not exist and while they do not exist now all of them are denouncing the alleged issues of the rule of law”.
When asked if the regional universities are under threat, Mr. Marinakis accused SYRIZA of complaining about the limitation of funds, while “it had funding for universities, higher education of 90 million euros” which has now “Increased by 50%, over 130 million euros – this increase was already done by us from 2019 to 2023 and overall funding for Education increased. And in the bill voted against by SYRIZA, 1.5 billion euros are earmarked for public universities. Democritus is strengthened, the Open University is strengthened.” He also accused PASON of denouncing the bill for the downgrading of public universities while “apparently he did not even read the bill when he started these complaints, because 176 articles out of 205 of the bill referred to the public university.”
The government representative also referred to the new increase in the minimum wage with the aim of reaching 950 euros at the end of 4 years, noting that what the government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis says, it does. “Why is the impending minimum wage increase so valuable?” he wondered and noted: “Why are we, like all other countries, being tested by an insistent exactness, so these permanent interventions on civil servants, pensioners, young people, new parents, new mothers and people in the private sector , where the increase of the minimum wage and three years that have been unfrozen, is the best antidote”.
To another related question, Mr. Marinakis replied that in addition to the increase in the minimum wage, the goal is also for the average wage to reach 1500 euros. And how can this be done: “The first answer is that we raised it by more than 15% in a difficult four years, the previous one. Because the economy had not reached the level it is now. The second answer is hidden in the three years. The three years thawed earlier, about two years, than we had predicted, why? Because we saw the need for wages to rise even more, due to accuracy. The third answer – if you allow me – because all these are important, but they are important if you put them next to the development of the country and the jobs that are created. When about 400,000 jobs have been created and in those jobs we have an increase in the average wage, it means that more of the pie is created, the pie grows, so we can have these results.”
Mr. Marinakis, answering related questions, also referred to the student allowance that is increasing, but also to the allowance for new mothers, clarifying that in our country “There were mothers of two speeds. Mothers who received the allowance and there were also freelancers and farmers, who received for a few months, I think for two months, around 200 euros. Not even 200 euros. And a little less. So, the Government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis came and, essentially, first extended this allowance to self-employed women and farmers and it went up to the level of the minimum wage”. Finally, he made reference to the birth allowance which also increased and in fact “increased geometrically based on how many children the new couple gives birth to” said the government representative, adding “here all this, if you add it up, together with the permanent income interventions, is another move to deal with the crisis and interventions that remain when the crises go away. Obviously, the birth allowance alone does not solve all the problems of a new couple, nor does €780, which is not an insignificant sum, solve all the problems of a new mother. But if you add up the birth allowance, if you add up the new mother’s allowance, if you add up the €1,000 tax-free increase, if you consider that 9,000 people have already found a home and many more are about to from the doubled scheme . When one considers that all these interventions in both the public and private sectors are comprehensive, one understands why the best political response to punctuality is permanent interventions. Because permanent interventions fortify everyday life and remain the next day as well.”
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