On the eve of his central political speech in Athens, the President of PASOK-Movement for Change, Nikos Androulakis, rejected the ideas of a special purpose government, noting:

“Special Purpose Government? No, normal government. Normal government, which will have a clause on the commission of inquiry without abusive use of privacy. What we learn will be used by the judiciary and the Parliament with a preliminary investigation afterwards. What do some people want? Should we do the preliminary investigation without having preceded the investigation of the persons who did not come to the first investigation committee, why did Mr. Mitsotakis and the governing majority of New Democracy cover them up, so that we are led to an impasse? What do I understand about Mr. Tsipras? What Mr. Tsipras is doing – for some reason – shows an anxiety.

What Mr. Tsipras says lately has no stability. One says for a government with Varoufakis, the other tolerance. I appreciate that he thinks he will save himself by suppressing PASOK. So, probably, the problem of Mr. Mitsotakis and Mr. Tsipras is not cooperation with PASOK, but the extermination of PASOK. So I say to every progressive citizen to vote for the faction of big changes, reforms, NHS, public education, independent authorities, without adventure, to create a real counterweight to arrogance, authoritarianism and the client state like this was expressed by Mr. Mitsotakis in this four-year period and also by Mr. Tsipras in the previous four-year period.”

“One is a populist without a tie, the other a populist with a tie. They are leading the country to new adventures and a strong PASOK will be an obstacle in these adventures, because it also respects democracy and is a party that believes that it can achieve sustainable development through social democracy so that the Greek people will have much better days” he emphasized Mr. Androulakis.

Asked about Mr. Mitsotakis’ statements that he refuses to meet, he repeated: “Mr. Mitsotakis has never invited me officially, based on protocol, as has happened in the past in his meetings with political leaders. I have met twice with the President of the Republic. There was protocol. So, I want from your show to call the Prime Minister’s Office to send you tomorrow morning when they sent me an invitation to discuss a national issue or an issue that concerns Greek society and I refused. Never. If Mr. Mitsotakis thinks that we are neighbors and PASOK is a party “friendly” to New Democracy. If he considers himself a “strategic” partner and can have such arrogance and such contempt, I want to tell you that he is defeated. PASOK is an autonomous PASOK, with a deep history, with social roots. We are rivals with Mr. Mitsotakis, just as we are rivals with Mr. Tsipras. We are not partners. And it will be proven on Sunday and Monday.”

Regarding Mr. Tsipras’s constant references to Andreas Papandreou, the President of PASOK-Movement for Change insisted: “Andreas Papandreou did not co-govern with the far-right Kammenos-type dregs, Mr. Tsipras. Andreas Papandreou would never say “Prespes of the Aegean”, Mr. Tsipras. Andreas Papandreou would never say that the sea has no borders. That is why it goes a long way to teach us lessons about the patriot, democrat, progressive Andreas Papandreou, those who have no political relationship with him, those who co-governed with the extreme right, those who called Andreas Papandreou an “agent “and they have the representative of Karamanlis in their party”.

He addressed the progressive voters, noting: “Mr. Tsipras says on the one hand that he can co-govern with Varoufakis. The other says for a government with a vote of tolerance. Then he says about a special purpose government. Yesterday, in fact, he said that Varoufakis is a sponsor of Mitsotakis with what he says about the “Dimitra” program. Why is what Tsakalotos says about the local currencies not a sponsorship to Mr. Mitsotakis? Mr. Tsipras himself, who said about the Evros fence, that the Europeans should not pay for it but the Greek people, is he not a sponsor of Mitsotakis? What he says about “Prespes of the Aegean” and that “the sea has no borders”, is he not a sponsor of Mitsotakis? Unfortunately this is the reality. If PASOK was strong and an official opposition, Mr. Mitsotakis would already be a thing of the past, because the entire democratic-progressive world could rely on a reliable solution. This is my concern for the people to have a reliable solution so that we can finally end power systems that undermine the public interest and their only concern is the chair.”

“We have a front. A front against evil, toxicity, populism, elitism. For the place to turn a page. I want the people to remember if the practices of New Democracy and SYRIZA are similar. Mr. Mitsotakis states that I do not represent progressive modernization and that PASOK is a populist party. Who says this; In 2010, if the PASOK MPs had followed what Mr. Tsipras and Mr. Mitsotakis voted together, the country would have had a drachma. Even the sister of Mr. Mitsotakis voted to stay in the euro. Mr. Mitsotakis and Mr. Tsipras together, – I emphasize this, so that the people remember who is a populist and who did everything he could to the detriment of the country to become prime minister -, voted for the drachma. Who is the progressive modernizer? I got to where I got to and no one will ever come back and tell you “Androulakis appointed me to the public office”. If we put the ruffians of Mitsotakis and his family in a row, their length would exceed the Great Wall” added Mr. Androulakis to Real FM.

“Do you consider reliable the one who promised “seismachtia” and “no house in the hands of a banker” and in the end sold billions of euros of “red loans” to the funds that are currently blackmailing the Greek people? Do you consider reliable the one who talked about good jobs, respect for institutions, an end to the institutional decay of Tsipras and made the biggest scandal of the post-revolution with his nephew and brought the economy to the current mess with jobs of 500 euros and a huge public debt? No, they are not trustworthy persons. A reliable government is the government that will bring Greece forward, as a protagonist of the developments and not a tail that takes the money from Europe and cannot do the basic things”, said Mr. Androulakis.

He criticized the Government’s economic policy: “Let’s see what the OECD says: real wages fell by 7.4% in 2022. State revenues are 66% – that is, 2/3 – from indirect taxes that mainly affect the most poor and the middle class. Real foreign direct investment – ​​productive investment – ​​fell by 14%. And the purchasing power of Greek households is third from the bottom in the European Union. Our debt increased by 45-50 billion euros. If these data create a sense of security or confirm what Mr. Mitsotakis says, I disagree. These data show that the Greek economy is going from bad to worse. We currently have the largest trade deficit since 2010.

Let’s go to development. What growth do we have? Do we have growth with good jobs? Do we have extroverted growth with lots of exports? Do we have growth that creates a stable economy? No, we have real estate, acquisition of already existing Greek businesses. Real estate is a sellout. If now the investment and development of Mr. Mitsotakis is the de-Hellenization of the Greek economy, this will be disastrous for the future of the country.”

The President of PASOK-Movement for Change, regarding Greek-Turkish relations, said: “The only way to improve Greek-Turkish relations, apart from our own strategy, is for a government structure to prevail in Turkey that will not include the Far Right. This is the big issue. Bakhceli takes Erdogan even further, one pulls the other. If Aksener is strong at the core of Kilicdaroglu, it is not good for Greece. If HDP’s 9% is strong, that’s good. So it is in our interest that the cooperation government of Turkey does not have strong nationalist elements in it”.