In the context of his interview with OREN, the president of PASOK-Movement for Change, Nikos Androulakis, identified as the goal “to have a reliable strong progressive force in the country. For New Democracy to parade all these mistakes and not pay them to the election “treasury”, for me it should not happen again. The official opposition was voted against more than New Democracy was voted for.”

“We as social democrats and as PASOK insist that the big goals are three: Firstly, a durable production base. Sustainable development, which can withstand global shocks, be it pandemics or energy crises, something that Greece does not have. Secondly, fair taxation. And thirdly, a strong welfare state. I can take them one by one with official data and prove to you that the New Democracy has either failed or has done the least,” said the President of PASOK-Movement for Change.

Mr. Androulakis responding to what the ND press representative says in favor of maintaining high indirect taxes.

“The Prime Minister’s right-hand man, Mr. Skertsos, against every economic theory, said that the VAT reduction is convenient for the oligarchs and the rich. There is no economist in the world who will tell you this. If you tell me what economic theory says this, then I really raise my hands. To understand the extent of mockery, viciousness and contempt of our intelligence, in 2019 what I support today and New Democracy denounces, it was included in its program. It said: “We are reducing VAT by introducing two basic rates of 11% and 22% from 13% and 24%”. We are proposing a reduction in VAT on basic goods to protect the middle class and the weakest Greeks, whom accuracy leads to despair” noted Mr. Androulakis, explaining that the reduction in VAT on basic goods is proposed by PASOK-Movement for Change as long as period the crisis lasts.

“Mr. Skertsos and Mr. Mitsotakis state that they reduced taxes and the Greek people won 7 billion euros in four years. PASOK replies: “Indeed this happened, but in two years you took from the Greek people 5 billion more VAT than the budgeted amount”. We point out that, while there is an energy crisis, if you have made 5 billion, we have to go back a percentage of the outperformance in relation to the budgeted VAT on basic goods and find the rate to scale down. This is a measure for as long as the energy crisis exists and for as long as prices rise. The same will apply to farmers and breeders, noting that the measures we propose to lower production costs are not permanent. It is for as long as the crisis lasts. Now, if the economic situation of the country is better, we can discuss the horizontal reduction of VAT in the future. We are in favor of the horizontal reduction of indirect taxes, because we consider it a distorted model for the Greek economy that 2/3 of the taxes collected by the state are indirect taxes and 1/3 direct taxes. And, in fact, the terrible thing is that most direct taxes are collected by employees and pensioners”, said Mr. Androulakis.

“Victory is earned, not given away. And especially in a party that is fighting powerful interests. I understand that an oligarch or a very rich person, who today transfers his million-euro villa tax-free to his child, does not like it when a party comes and tells him: “no, sir, the middle and poor will have up to 800,000 tax-free, but you you can’t because it’s socially unfair”. He might not like it. I, however, will call things by their name” he emphasized.

Regarding the debate that opened on the taxation of high dividend payers, Mr. Androulakis pointed out: “They are lying to us about the dividends. Here is the map of Europe for dividends. Now there is a flat tax of 5%. Where is there a flat tax of 5%? Only in Lithuania. Where do we fit in with Lithuania? In that we have the worst health system, with the result that the people pay huge amounts out of pocket for health and education. What are we talking about; Scalable. Up to 50,000 the same as it is today, which is also the great majority. I’m not talking about corporate profits, that’s a solid 22%. We, if it can be reduced, are in favor of it being reduced. We are only talking about the dividend. What are we talking about; Up to 50,000, 5%. From 50-100,000, 10%. That is, for the TV viewer to understand why there is a commotion and the media that supports New Democracy lie to us: Someone who receives a 70,000 euro individual dividend will pay 1,000 euro more based on what we propose. Someone who gets a 120,000 euro dividend will pay 4,000 euro. It concerns a few, it is three-four thousand”.

“I do not defend the interests of 2-3,000 families in Greece, as Mr. Mitsotakis does. But I want a fair tax system to solve the demographic problem, to create fair and sustainable development” added Mr. Androulakis.

“Where are the great economists, who during the years of the memorandum warned: “No more public debt”, to say that today we have 50 billion more debt. Where are the big bankers, who used to come out and say that “the trade deficit destroyed Greece” today when we have the biggest trade deficit since 2010 and they don’t come out to talk? So, since they don’t say them, we will point them out. They promise to raise wages by 25%. They have also made it a central advertisement. However, in the medium term, which they submitted to the European Commission, the increase is a total of 13%. In other words, they tell the people before the elections that in the next 4 years we will increase your average salary by 25% and in the plan they have submitted to the European Union, the total is 13%”, said the President of PASOK-Movement for Change regarding the budgetary figures.

“Since yesterday I have been reading a common non-paper on all Greek sites. But they can’t do a report to see the growth rate of Spain and reproduce a non paper by Maximus? Are they trying to convince us that the VAT on basic goods in Spain was badly reduced? Even there, however, the European Commission refutes the propaganda of the New Democracy by demonstrating that the reduction of VAT on basic goods in Spain helped the poorest Spaniards. Let’s end this extreme propaganda which does not help to have a serious public debate” concluded Mr. Androulakis.

Asked about the possibility of the New Democracy not being able to achieve independence, Mr. Androulakis underlined: “The fear of the first Sunday was that we would find SYRIZA and Varoufakis. Would PASOK, which kept Greece in the euro, get along with Varoufakis? These played into the media totalitarianism of New Democracy, that the party that kept Greece in the euro would find it with Varoufakis! So, Mr. Mitsotakis has succeeded, whatever he has achieved. Are they now cultivating a second fear? It is more likely that with the results of the first Sunday, he will be able to do a constitutional revision without giving an account to anyone.”