“On May 21, this faction took a first, big step. Especially when our political opponents, who are now both revealing their plan, wanted a small PASOK. A PASOK instrumental in their plans. They failed. And they failed because the dominant people spoke. I call on this people to embrace the democratic, progressive plan for our homeland and to give us a new strong voice on June 25”, said the president of PASOK-Movement of Change, Nikos Androulakis from Rethymno, specifying the electoral goals for the June 25 elections .

Mr. Androulakis pointed out how with today’s electoral law the percentage obtained by the ND in the May elections translates into 172 seats and argued that “the systemic media must stop scaring the Greek people. The danger, now, is not the instability, but the omnipotence of the New Democracy. And I ask for a strong mandate to be a strong opposition-bulwark to the arrogance and client state of Mr. Mitsotakis’ system of power.” Addressing New Democracy, he characteristically said: “So, you have options in the far-right apartment building, because this is not a liberal center.” At the same time, he criticized the attitude of SYRIZA as he noted how “the “golden” sponsor was populism and the disastrous governance of 2015-19″.

The president of PASOK-KINAL made a special reference to the issue of Thrace. He called on New Democracy and SYRIZA to show a serious attitude. “Let’s stop the cheap pre-election games of New Democracy and SYRIZA” he said and emphasized: “Andreas Papandreou broke down the bars of shame. Costas Simitis, with Foreign Minister George Papandreou, made the law of 5 per thousand, which put hundreds of thousands of Greek Muslims in the universities and after 20 years the number of scientists in Thrace has increased fivefold. This party gave perspective. This party is the party of respect for human rights, the hopeful party of progress that stands up to these unacceptable small-party attitudes.”

He emphasized the issues of meritocracy and transparency where he commented: “What is the transparency of Mr. Mitsotakis? The 3,700 transferred employees? Or the 10 billion direct assignments? Clarity everywhere, competitions, so that every Greek who goes knows the last euro of his taxes”. At the same time, he responded to the criticism leveled at his party’s proposal to reduce VAT on basic goods. “VAT on basic goods is populism. We heard that too. But, is it populism to reduce the VAT on a few basic goods, so that the most vulnerable Greeks can buy milk and bread? New Democracy in its program in 2019 promised reduced VAT in both categories. Then they could, now they can’t?’ pointed out Mr. Androulakis.

Regarding armaments, he said that PASOK-KINAL supported the strengthening of the deterrent force of the country and did not play populist games, like SYRIZA. “But how long will the arms rally continue?” For this reason, PASOK’s first priority is not to rally competition with Turkey, but to stop the West from selling even one bullet to Turkey, as long as it violates human rights and does not respect the conditions of good neighborliness with Greece and Cyprus. An arms embargo is a top priority for a patriotic movement,” he noted.