“We will do everything, as the first party, to form a progressive government of cooperation,” Alexis Tsipras declares in an interview with the “TA NEA” newspaper over the weekend. He notes that in his opinion “there is no political legitimacy of a government that does not include the first party” and he notes that the culture of partnerships involving programmatic convergences and collaborations between neighboring areas results in much more stable and much more representative governments.

The president of SYRIZA/PS emphasizes that the party strategys “is clear: as long as we are the first party next Sunday, the country will get a strong progressive government”. “If you are looking for blurred messages, try to make sense of what the ND says”, “we are talking about absolute confusion”, he comments and underlines that “a victory of SYRIZA means change”. He mentions that SYRIZA is the only party that for a decade has a tradition of overturning poll predictions at the ballot box. He adds that the “undeniable trend of the last few months is a constant wear and tear and a very broad wave of disapproval of the current government, accompanied by a desire for change”, saying he is confident that these will be reflected in the citizens’ decision on May 21.

To the question of whether we will see Special Court on the issue of wiretapping if a SYRIZA government majority emerges, he states that “what we will seek to achieve and we will go to the end for it is the truth. And the only way for the truth to shine in this case is to ensure that the Greek Judiciary will be able to do its work freely and independently, without interference and dependencies.” He adds that the only way to close this wound that, as he said, opened in the state and the institutions, “is to follow the exact opposite path of those who rose and executed the sick plan of wiretapping: to trust the institutions and the Constitution and to follow the path they will show us”.

Talking about her challenges economy., argues that a strong progressive cooperation government will prevent further misadventures. “For the simple reason that it will be a government that has both the knowledge and the experience to operate on the basis of a program that will have social justice and the development perspective at its core, conditions necessary for the fiscal security of the country,” he emphasizes. He comments that on the other hand, the four years of a “strong one-party right-wing government of Mr. Mitsotakis”, “has inflated inequalities, increased private and public debt and has overwhelmingly reduced the disposable income of every citizen”.

Mr. Tsipras states that the “robust and immediately applicable program” of SYRIZA, “responds to the generalized feeling of injustice and insecurity of the vast majority of citizens” and is a “progressive proposal addressed to everyone”, as the need for a strong National Social Security System, good public schools and universities, labor legitimacy, a fair and efficient state, “are self-evident social needs”. “When everyday life becomes unlivable, the answer is change,” he notes. He accuses the government of “cheating” pensioners, repeating his commitments to restore the 13th pension, return retroactive benefits to the 2.5 million pensioners “deprived by the Mitsotakis government” and a 7.5% increase for all pensioners regardless of existence of a personal difference. Responding to the “image that the government took away taxes”, he said that “overall in the 4-year average, tax revenues had an increase of 2.8 billion.” and that this explosion of income was not fueled by any intervention in tax evasion or by increasing taxes on high incomes, but by those whom “Mr. Mitsotakis forced to spend half a month on their salary and his vision is to live on vouchers ». He emphasizes that “now is not the second, but the first opportunity to govern with our program, in which tax justice is a core element.”

He repeated the pledges for tax free to 10,000 euros “and a series of simple and immediately applicable actions targeting the middle class and ordinary households”, reduction of VAT on food to 6%, ceiling on fuel at the lowest European limit and its abolition for agricultural and livestock oil, increase of the minimum to 880 euros in the private sector and annual indexation to the level of the previous year’s inflation, unfreezing of the three years for an immediate “brave” increase in the average salary, a 10% increase in the salaries of the State, strengthening of control mechanisms and institutional measures to combat profiteering . Speaking about his commitment to the renationalization of PPC, he emphasizes that “leaving it as it is, i.e. becoming an ally of the profiteering cartels, raising tariffs and at the same time handing out hundreds of thousands of euros in bonuses to the blue golden boys, is not an option ». He adds that the program envisages a doubling of the rent subsidy for people aged 25-44 and the creation of a Housing Bank to grant affordable housing to young couples. As far as airbnb is concerned, the main intervention concerns the prohibition of activity for legal entities.

Regarding the ND’s criticism of the cost of the SYRIZA program, Mr. Tsipras comments that it “does not have the slightest credibility”, commenting that Mr. Staikouras had priced the same program at TIF at 23 billion and then Mr. .Mitsotakis took it to 45, then to 85 and finally to 70. He adds that Mr. Mitsotakis “lies that the GLK costed the program of one faction at the behest of another”. He notes that the people who drew up the SYRIZA program are the ones who left behind 37 billion in the public coffers and the debt settled, while the ND skyrocketed the deficit, bankrupted the country and owes 400 million.

“As we did during our administration, we will maintain the fence (s.s. in Evro), answers Mr. Tsipras, “and we will defend the country’s borders with respect to international law, against instrumentalization actions by traffickers or by Turkey”. He notes that “what we will not do is create impressions in order to gain political benefits – as Mr. Mitsotakis is doing by copying Donald Trump – by telling the world that the refugee problem is solved with the fence”. It underlines, among other things, that the diplomatic capital and alliances in Europe will use them for a fair Migration and Asylum agreement that does not disproportionately burden the countries of first reception, to have a new, effective Euro-Turkish agreement with respect for international law, to ensure resettlement and legal migration routes from Turkey to EU countries on the basis of fair distribution and to have a strong European return framework for those not entitled to asylum.

“SYRIZA is not talking about “Prespes of the Aegean”. There is no connection between the nomenclature and our difference with Turkey”, underlines the president of SYRIZA. He notes that the Prespa Agreement “defended national interests and brought the EU back to our northern borders, rather than having Turkey floundering and the region collapsing.” He comments that “some people talk about “Prespes of the Aegean” because they are essentially against the dialogue with Turkey on the basis of international law. They invoke international law against the threats that Greece receives, but when it comes to resolving disputes, they throw the ball in the court and support procrastination and non-solution, no matter how much it costs national interests.” Mr. Tsirpas emphasizes that for SYRIZA the first goal of foreign policy is the defense of our sovereignty and sovereign rights and that “at the same time, the goal must be the active effort to resolve disputes peacefully based on international law.” “This is what we achieved with the Prespa Agreement and this is what we fought for with the Cyprus issue,” he says.

Mr. Tsipras emphasizes: “Our clear goal must be the delimitation of the continental shelf/EEZ in The Hague. Our clear red lines are territorial integrity and the right to defend the islands. Our clear strategy is to utilize our alliances in order to engage Turkey in dialogue, without maxims and provocations. The proposals we have submitted for the interconnection of The Hague with the new EU-Turkey customs union, as well as for the expansion of territorial waters in the Eastern Mediterranean and the delimitation of the continental shelf/EEZ with our neighboring countries, are clear.