Alexis Tsipras to pensioners: Mitsotakis cheated you obscenely and twice

For the double deception of pensioners by the Mitsotakis government said the President of SYRIZA – Progressive Alliance, Alexis Tsipras, at the meeting he had with the presidents of pensioners’ federations and associations.

He originally referred to the 13th pension saying that “when we brought the 13th pension to the Parliament, Mr. Mitsotakis committed himself and voted for it and said he would keep it and as soon as he was elected he forgot it even existed. And then he took the one billion that we had committed the time for the 13th pension and took it away to close the loopholes from the privatization of supplementary insurance, which is a key opposition we have both ideologically and practically. We want a public insurance system and not privatization of the supplementary insurance pillar. This privatization will cost the Greek public more than 70 billion over the next fifty years.”

Referring to the retroactive issue, he spoke of the second major deception of the Mitsotakis government towards the pensioners, which took place in the period after the elections, especially after 2020, when the decision of the Council of State came out on the retroactive effects of the cuts illegally made by the government Samara, a decision that affected everyone. “They only gave for the cuts in the main pensions and left out the cuts related to the auxiliary and gifts and these were also deemed unconstitutional by the CoE. And not only that, but they called on the pensioners not to file appeals and that the same thing will happen for everyone and what they are entitled to will be returned and there is no decision so far on the return of the retroactives” underlined Alexis Tsipras and added “It is a major issue of ethics and a question of justice. The country cannot ignore the decisions of justice whenever it is not convenient for it and whenever it is convenient to talk about respect for the decisions of justice.”

Referring to the commitments of SYRIZA – Progressive Alliance to pensioners, Alexis Tsipras, emphasized that “at the TIF we committed to two things. The return of the 13th pension, with the abolition of TEKA, is related to the privatization of supplementary insurance and we will return this 1 billion to the pensioners to give a significant boost at the end of the year. And the retroactive amounts of 2.5 billion euros will be given in three equal amounts of approximately 800 million because it is a big financial burden. It is a moral obligation of the state to give retroactive benefits to pensioners. Otherwise we are not a state of law if we do not implement the decision of justice”.

He stressed that the issue of pensioners should not be seen as an issue concerning the current situation but as an issue concerning the restoration of justice in relation to the past decade. “The labor renegades were the ones who paid the price for the country’s exit from the economic crisis, the terrible cuts they had especially in the first phase of the memorial years. And yet they were the ones who supported the income of every family and not just theirs, because in Greece the institution of the family is different from the rest of Europe. With their pension they support their grandchildren, their child who is unemployed or a businessman who is not doing well” he said characteristically and added that “indeed, there was a horizontal reduction in pensions and we believe that after the end of the memorial adventure these big wounds should slowly slowly to be restored. Despite the terrible financial difficulties and the difficulties that had to do with obligations that we found from the previous ones and we were forced to implement which were unfair, at the end of the year we gave whatever surplus we had to the pensioners and Mr. Mitsotakis told us that it was a crumb and we instituted the 13th as a full pension for low-pensioners who are more than half-pensioners and scaled up to 50% for the highest pensions.”

At the same time, referring to the pension increases from January 1, 2023 announced by Mr. Mitsotakis at the TIF, Mr. Tsipras emphasized that “these are increases that were legislated in 2017 and were foreseen for 2023. From then on, there are serious problems. One is the personal difference, if this trick didn’t exist then the old pensions would go to the bottom. But now there is a problem because in order to cover the personal difference from the current pension indexation increases, pensioners with the personal difference will not get increases and this is an issue that we need to see how we can and with your proposals to face”.

At the same time, he described the issue of pending pensions as “enormous”, which as he said had “inflated”. “You will remember that during our days we had made a great effort and had reduced them by 70%. The new government came and promised that the pensions would not be delayed even a single day and finally it reached 300 thousand again. And now we have about 124k ancillary and 80k main outstanding and 55k one off outstanding. And here the government follows the path of privatization, not the strengthening of the public sector with worthy executive potential. At the time, we had found a solution through an OAED program for young scientists and had 2,000 people working on it. And this is a critical issue of justice,” added Mr. Tsipras.

“We are always open to chatting with you, first of all because we respect the pensioners of the whole country who have suffered enormous sacrifices and secondly because we consider it necessary to strengthen the institution you represent, that is why we instituted this optional fee. The government’s decision to abolish it in practice is a vindictive decision and a decision that signals that ultimately they do not wish for there to be a claim and a different opinion but silence about everything. In the end they will negotiate with Mr. Autias for the pensioners and not with you. Pensioners must have a voice, claim, disagree, as it was with us, but this is democracy. Every government must respect a social group that claims and fights and in any case discuss with them” concluded Mr. Tsipras.

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