During his speech tonight in Kilkis, the President of PASOK-Movement for Change, Nikos Androulakis, pointed out the “ignorance” invoked in the Institutions and Transparency Committee by the former Minister of Transport, Kostas Karamanlis, regarding a document by the National Transparency Authority – as early as 2021 – which held officials responsible for the progress of safety work on the railways and even called for disciplinary proceedings.

“Today, another bomb is coming. Document of the National Transparency Authority, which was sent to the Ministry of Transport on October 4, 2021 and speaks of criminal inaction in the handling of contract 717/2014. Our MPs asked Mr. Karamanlis in Parliament and he says he didn’t know anything. So this is not a staff state that guarantees the basics. It is a staff state of audacity and cover-up. His only priority is that the current government does not face its responsibilities” noted Mr. Androulakis.

He was critical of the Prime Minister’s narrative of the progressive modernizer.

“He said recently that he is ready to take on the deep state by calling himself a reformer. Who is the “deep state”? The deep state is those who use the Recovery Fund on customer terms. The deep state are the ones who organize the wiretapping parastate from the Maximos Palace. Deep state is when a contract for nine years is not implemented, they know the criminal responsibilities of specific actors of the Organizations and the Ministry but do nothing, having these tragic results as the Transparency Authority says. It is a deep state to appoint your party children to critical positions in organizations. Let’s look at the biographies of everyone involved. Most of them are executives who supported Mr. Mitsotakis, party children of New Democracy” he pointed out.

Mr. Androulakis repeated the package of five proposals for a safe and modern railway, which he presented with his article in the newspaper “To Vima”. Among others, they stand out:

– The temporary return of TRAINOSE to state control and finding a new strategic investor soon.
– Reconstitution of RAS based on international standards and direct involvement of the European Union and the European Railway Organization in providing expertise and supervision

“Did the Rail Regulator do its job? Their party children were appointed by the masters of SYRIZA. People who didn’t know what a train meant. Aren’t we tired of holding elections and after them the whole state is torn apart? And to have people come without any parchment other than their party identity, getting fat salaries to do services? Where else does this happen? But New Democracy and SYRIZA are unrepentant” said Mr. Androulakis, specifying that the staffing of the state should be beyond and above every electoral cycle.

Regarding the case of illegal wiretapping, the President of PASOK-Movement for Change said: “Since last summer when I went to the Prosecutor’s Office of the Supreme Court, many months have passed. Everything you learned, I learned too. While the investigations by the independent authorities of Mr. Menoudakou and Mr. Rammos have progressed and have found too much evidence to shed light on this case. Why does justice move so slowly? Is he waiting for the elections to be over? So that the Greek people do not find out about the criminal activity of the parastatal before the elections and properly assess Mr. Mitsotakis and his nephew?”

“Is it possible that in a country where we have given billions to prop up the banks, the government should – instead of threatening to overtax the banks’ super profits – allow us to have the biggest difference between deposit and mortgage rates? This despises the efforts made by the Greek people” underlined the President of PASOK-Movement for Change, referring to the burdens borne by the citizens.

In the wake of government announcements for the minimum wage, pointed out that “this should be the last time the state sets the minimum wage. With the next government, it must be the product of an agreement of the social partners through the National General Collective Labor Agreement. And, of course, we have a duty to free up the three-year period, so that those paid with the lowest salaries can progress in terms of salaries.”

“I’m trying to show another way. But this road is not a road of compromise. It is a road of conflicts. And, if some people think that national elections will be held and then a coalition government will be formed so that they remain prime ministers, they probably do not know what the current and new era of PASOK is. PASOK will get a strong mandate by making only programmatic agreements and without persons who have consistently undermined the public interest at the expense of the Greek people. I do not forget and none of us forgets that, when Mr. Karamanlis bankrupted Greece, this faction kept the country standing and did not play games on the backs of the Greek people” noted the President of PASOK-Movement for Change regarding the post-election environment.