His intention to highlight “the critical issue of the public good called water” was underlined by the president of SYRIZA PS, Alexis Tsiprasduring his visit to its facilities EYDAP and his discussion with employees of the company, speaking of “a critical issue that affects the lives not only of the employees here, but of all people.”

At the same time, Mr. Tsipras spoke of “differences of politics and not communication, politics and substance that concern people’s lives”, noting that in the second ballots, which are the most critical, “parties and persons are not judged, but our lives are judged . Which party will govern has to do with which program and which plan it will govern.” In this context, he underlined that “the preservation of public goods is not an ideology of the Left”, as it concerns all citizens. “This is a basic difference in the programs of SYRIZA and ND, that we believe that there are some goods that should be under public control, not all are sold and bought in this life. On the contrary, the opinion of our political opponent, Mr. Mitsotakis, is that even water can be an object of commercial exploitation, it can be sold and bought in the logic of profit.”

In this context, Mr. Tsipras recalled that after the Tempe tragedy, Mr. Mitsotakis brought to the Parliament for a vote the creation of a Regulatory Authority for water “which was the first step for the privatization of water”. Citing what has been done at the international level, the President of SYRIZA PS emphasized that “it has been done in many countries by neoliberal governments and it has failed everywhere”, as he said “social issues have been created not only because it is critical that water is accessible to everyone because it is an element of life but mainly because the issue of public health is critical or the quality of water concerns our lives. Every private individual aims to make a profit and to achieve this he will make discounts on maintenance and labor relations and personnel and product standards precisely to increase the possibility of profit”.

He even reminded that Mr. Mitsotakis refused the SYRIZA amendment “to immediately implement the decision of the regional council in order to return EYDAP and EYATH from the Superfund to where they should belong, to the public, that is, to the finance ministry, so that they can to be able to determine the policies of EYDAP and EYATH by the respective government and not only technocrats”, saying that he will do so at some point after the elections.

“It is crucial for the world to know whether water will remain a public good or whether it will be privatized” he noted and emphasized that the goal of the SYRIZA PS is “to abolish the regulatory authority for water, as it makes no sense to have the regulatory authority for water and waste, as long as it is under public control’.

At the same time, he complained that despite the fact that there are state-of-the-art infrastructures for the maintenance of EYDAP’s networks, “the network is not maintained because there is no staff and for four years there has been no recruitment and no substantial reinforcement of the Company, because the plan is either privatization or the possibility for private individuals to come and take part of the maintenance in order to make profits”

Employee support plan or indiscretion in a work jungle

Referring to the upcoming elections, Mr. Tsipras underlined that the issue of labor relations is one of the major stakes of the elections and emphasized that despite the given difficulties from the result of the first ballot, “there are two parties that have plans for governing. That of the ND and the alternative plan of the SYRIZA PS which considers that a necessary condition for there to be development is to have a perspective for the working people. We do not believe that there can be any preemption in this place, when the working people are in insecurity. There is no greater insecurity than the stability of job insecurity.”

For this reason, and unfolding the SYRIZA program for labor matters, Mr. Tsipras emphasized that “we want to restore the collective labor agreement, the justified reason for dismissal, the Labor Inspection Body so that the employee feels that he has the state as a release to labor legality and regularity are applied, so that there are safety limits at work and that we do not experience accidents at work on a daily basis”. Referring to yesterday’s labor accident in Perama, he emphasized that “what we saw in Perama was not an isolated incident. 57 workers have lost their lives in work accidents in the last year and this has to a very large extent to do with the decision taken by the government of New Democracy to abolish the work inspection body that checks whether the rules are being followed.”

And he concluded that the critical dilemma in the elections is “whether we will have a plan to support workers the next day or we will proceed with further indecency in the jungle in the workplace”, while he underlined the need to strengthen workers and transform fixed-term employment contracts but they hide dependent labour, in open-ended contracts”.

ND has preyed on the weak and middle class by increasing indirect taxation

In closing, Al. Tsipras referred to the “critical stake of this electoral contest”, noting that “the government of Mr. Mitsotakis has increased taxation, but “indirect taxation”, keeping VAT and VAT at high levels”.

“And indirect tax increases don’t hit high-income, middle-income, and low-income equally. They mainly hit those who are small because the others can cope. So, what did the ND government do in these 4 years. Indeed, he made tax breaks for the rich and plundered through indirect taxation the income of the great social majority. And especially the employees, the workers. You live it in your pocket,” he said characteristically.

Referring to SYRIZA’s proposal for extraordinary taxation of the surplus profits of large energy and fuel companies, he underlined that “we must tax the powerful in an extraordinary way, not the companies that are trying with healthy methods in a difficult competitive situation to make some profits” and called on the workers to think before going to the ballot box “what is their class interest”, their “societal interest”. “Is this policy to continue which perpetuates the filthy lucre, the riches of the powerful, but leads to despair, uncertainty, insecurity for the great majority of people?”, he asked, warning of the future with a ND government that will mean “possible layoffs in order for private individuals to enter EYDAP” and “plans for the privatization of water”.

“What will be the perspective of this place if an uncontrolled right-wing and extreme neoliberal government that has given examples of how it wants to orient its policy in a harsh class direction of strengthening the powerful and plundering the middle and weak?”, he asked. , emphasizing that “it is worth fighting to overturn this unfavorable association” and reminding that on June 25th we have a “new ballot box”.

“K. Mitsotakis and his strategy, what does the ND propaganda machine want? Many fragmented parties in the opposition do not want a strong SYRIZA and are trying to prevent the prospect of all those who were against Mitsotakis and did not vote for SYRIZA rallying to the SYRIZA ballot box”, he noted, commenting that ND “knows that if this happens, it risks losing ” and in any case “he risks having a powerful opponent who will look him in the eye so that he does not implement a program of looting and encroachment on public wealth and workers’ rights”.