The president of SYRIZA-PS, Alexis Tsipras, from Nea Ionia Volos, launched an attack on Kyriakos Mitsotakis for a “hidden health agenda” – revealed, as he said, by ND MP Spyros Pneumatikos – and accused him of a “plan of social plunder and dissolution of the National Health System in order to create space for private interests and funds”.

“Mitsotakis plan to dissolve the National Social Security System”

Mr. Tsipras made extensive reference to public health issues: “The hidden Mitsotakis agenda was revealed by Mr. Pneumatikos, who said what Mr. Mitsotakis himself had said earlier: “you will shudder with our health program.” What did his schedule include? Private hospitals, pilots in three large hospitals, privatization of services through PPP. Mitsotakis’ strategic choice was not to strengthen public health, which is why we had the highest number of deaths in the pandemic. We left 108,000 doctors, nurses, administrators in the National Health Service, which now after four years have become 84,000. Mr. Pneumatikos comes and says privatization of hospitals, cost-benefit ratio and selection of patients, those who do not have a positive prognosis to not waste the state on their treatments. Let those who cannot afford to pay in the private sector die. This is what they had said before in the ND, those who cannot survive, die”. He also referred to EKAV saying that we experienced “three consecutive days with three losses of our fellow human beings because there is no staff at EKAV. Under the terms of the memorandum of understanding, we had made 300 recruitments during the four-year Mitsotakis term, and there were 560 departures without any recruitment.”

Mr. Tsipras argued that “the complete dissolution of the NSS is Mr. Mitsotakis’ choice and plan. Greece is the country with the largest private expenditure on health, 35% compared to 15% which is the EU average. They want a huge room for speculation for private interests in the health field.

“Call to Progressive Citizens”

Mr. Tsipras addressed the crowd in front of the EPON monument, which he said reminds us that “nothing was given away but won with struggles” to add that “we continue the struggle alongside the people of the toil”.

He then called on every democratic citizen to support SYRIZA, saying that “every vote that does not go to SYRIZA will strengthen the ND” and posed “the dilemma of the elections: Or in favor of the independence and omnipotence of the ND to implement the plan of what makes the rich richer and the poor poorer or in favor of SYRIZA so that there is a force that will be able to look Mr. Mitsotakis in the eye and prevent the plan of social plunder”.

“SYRIZA is a party of power, not a supplement to ND like KINAL”

Mr. Tsipras wanted to instill optimism in SYRIZA members and voters to continue fighting until the elections. He characteristically said: “SYRIZA is a mature child of necessity, it is not a flare, it came to stay forever next to the people, to the workers and toilers, to fight for their interests. We know well that you are allowed to fall but you must get up and fight. We know that only the fights that are not won are lost and we will fight this fight with momentum and with determination until the last second, to turn the tide. We will not give it for our party’s interest, we will fight to overturn the correlations of May 21, because if they are repeated it will be a negative development for society and for democracy. Their plan is not only to be self-sufficient but to be all-powerful in order to carry on a plan of social plunder.”

“Every vote that does not go to SYRIZA will be a vote that favors ND”

Continuing, he addressed all the citizens who did not vote ND, 60% of the electorate as he characteristically stated: “I am calling on every progressive citizen who has realized that what is coming is dramatic for society, to strengthen SYRIZA because, with enhanced proportionality, every vote that does not go to SYRIZA will be a vote that favors ND. So we call on every progressive citizen to strengthen the only alternative force, the only plan against the plan of social plunder, to strengthen SYRIZA. We are going for victory because SYRIZA was not and will not become a supplementary party like KINAL nor a protest party but a party of power”.

He referred to the simple analogy in criticizing the parties of the “progressive space”: “We’ve been locked into a decades-old vision of the Left, the simple analog. This was our vision and we wanted to make it a reality. Simple proportionality did not advance and responsibility for the historic defeat of simple proportionality lies with all the progressive forces who, instead of taking the hand we extended to them to overthrow the Mitsotakis government, they wanted to cut off ours.”

The dilemma of the elections

He then posed the dilemma of the elections: “Now either in favor of the ND of self-reliance and omnipotence or in favor of SYRIZA in order to have a force that will be able to look Mr. Mitsotakis in the eye and prevent the plan of social plunder”.

He then accused Kyriakos Mitsotakis of making false promises. He said characteristically: “The previous pre-election debate focused on what happened in 2015, as if there was no before and after and nothing in 2019-2023 or what will happen next. We want the discussion to focus on the next four years. We see that ND has a cheat program that includes things it won’t do and doesn’t contain things it will do. None of its promises are included in the medium term it has submitted to the EU, because there is no fiscal space for their implementation, it has exhausted it with the benefits that favor the speculation of big companies. All the promises of Mr. Mitsotakis for tax reductions and support for society are false.”

“House auctions are a gloomy everyday life”

Referring to the SYRIZA program, he said: “We want to deal with the looting of income by taxing excess profits. Mr. Mitsotakis tells us that he did not impose any new taxes, but he hides that he has imposed 6 billion more taxes on the Greek citizens with indirect taxes, with the maintenance of the VAT, with the maintenance of the Special Consumption Tax.

Our program includes reductions in VAT and excise duty, wage increases and market controls to tackle profiteering. We want to prevent the redistribution of income to the detriment of the many as well as the redistribution of wealth through auctions. The images of evictions – like the old man in Halkidiki – will be a daily occurrence in the next four years.

“How much is a human life worth?”

He referred to the costing of the programs: “Mr. Mitsotakis asked us to cost our programs. I told him let’s price them out and then go out and talk about it on TV. But he put it on his feet once again, because his program is false and deceitful. They talk about profits and losses about numbers and billions talk about numbers – those who once left the country bankrupt with a 15% deficit and the second time in 2015 with empty coffers, to us who are the only government that left the coffers full after taking out the country from the memoranda.

I wonder how much human life costs? What is the cost of the life of the pregnant woman or the woman in the cart who went like a dog or the worker in Perama because there are no checks. How much does life, dignity, security, solidarity cost? These are our own values ​​and they have no price.”

He closed by repeating his call to citizens “to go to the polls and judge the programs and alternative proposals of government and who will fight once more to make the rich richer and the poor poorer and who will fight to prevent social plunder.” No fight is lost, we will fight it. Let’s go strong and I ask you to believe, not only will we not lose our optimism but we will be reborn and we will be strong at the ballot box and the next day, the right is on our side and whoever is right will win”.