Alexis Tsipras expressed his belief that the critical issues of concern to society are not discussed before the election “by choosing Mitsotakis, because he knows that he is lagging behind in the program planning for the next day”, in an interview with the radio station “‘Akou 99.6” of Veria.

The president of SYRIZA PS commented that Mr. Mitsotakis has no answers, such as what will happen when the subsidies stop at the end of the year, “that’s why he avoids programmatic confrontation and discussion” and that’s why, as he said, he avoided the debate of two and found an opportunity to avoid the debate of five. He called on citizens to support SYRIZA on June 25 and for another reason related to the “need to have both a strong society and a healthy democracy”. He emphasized that he sees an arrogance and arrogance on the part of the ND in relation to the associations of May 21, arguing that “their design is not simply to win, but to be uncontrollable and unruly, they do not want an opposition to control them” .

Speaking about the fatal shipwreck off Pylos, he said that an issue that had been hidden under the carpet was highlighted in the most dramatic way. He said that when there is a rotten ship with 750 people in the middle of the ocean those people have two possible destinations with equal chances: their destination which is Europe and the other destination is the bottom of the sea. He underlined that both from the international conventions and mainly from our values ​​it is absolutely clear that the priority of the European and Greek authorities should be the saving of human life, “but unfortunately it is not”. “The priority is that this burden does not come to my own yard,” he commented.

Mr Tsipras said he was not to blame “but there is a reality here”. “I imagine it will be investigated by the authorities”, he added, stressing that there are a number of contradictions, “I received another information from the service minister and the officers of the port in Kalamata, the rescued people told me something else, the next day the representative said something else service government”. Mr. Tsipras emphasized that the bottom line is that human life does not count the same, it has to do with whether you have money or not, the color of your skin, your religious beliefs. He accused the ND that 4 years as a government it has a tough strategy that it serves faithfully in relation to immigration, “which the EU, which has huge responsibilities, also tolerates”.

Asked about it, Mr. Tsipras said that there is no shift in the positions of SYRIZA, “we are not against the fence, but we do not fetishize it.” He commented that “you can’t lie to the world, that if you build fences you are saved from the refugee/immigrant problem, because it is a problem that goes beyond fences.” He added that “our border fence may be a necessary operational measure, but it will not save you.” “The fence does not save you, it is necessary to claim in Europe another pact on migration and asylum, the revision of Dublin 2, to have as a priority the double: obviously the protection of our borders, as foreseen by the operational plans available to the authorities , but at the same time, as defined by our values ​​and international law, the protection of human life when it is at risk. Well, one and the other. Both together”, he underlined. He also accused Mr. Mitsotakis for the management of the issue, on the occasion of the photos on the Evros fence, that “he faithfully follows Trump’s communication strategy in terms of the far-right immigration agenda but also in terms of lies and the fake news”.

Regarding the elections, Mr. Tsipras emphasized that the stake does not change, it was and is how the country will be governed and with what program in the next four years, it has to do mainly with the big issues that concern people’s daily lives. He raised four “critical” programmatic issues. The issue of the NHS “which is in the worst state since it was founded, almost in complete collapse.” He accused ND of having a plan for further downsizing, closing structures, converting to private. He commented that Mr. Pneumatikos revealed them, but that “it is not such a hidden agenda”, as Mr. Mitsotakis tried to implement it but the pandemic intervened. “It is the neoliberal view of Mr. Mitsotakis.” The second issue is small and medium entrepreneurship “which Mr. Mitsotakis’ plan was and is the Pissarides plan which foresees the shrinking of SMEs into zombie businesses”. He emphasized that SYRIZA foresees, among other things, a special fund in the development bank that will give microcredits to small and medium enterprises and that the goal is to open up access to financing from the banking system.

The president of SYRIZA commented that “there was an incredible distortion of our positions two days before the elections”, which “was based on a mistake by one of our own officials”. He noted that “SYRIZA does not come with a plan to increase contributions to small and medium-sized businesses, but to settle their debts.” The third issue is accuracy, where the central position of SYRIZA is the reduction of indirect taxes. He asked the question “what will happen when the infamous passes run out at the end of the year. “There is no answer from Mr. Mitsotakis,” he said. As the fourth critical issue, he identified that of the auctions, noting that SYRIZA has submitted its proposal in detail and that “Mr. Mitsotakis pretends that this issue does not exist and the media is hiding the issue”.

Asked about the issue of agricultural compensations and issues related to the region, he said that SYRIZA had prepared a study for the new ELGA regulation, which “remained in the drawer of the Ministry of Rural Development for 4 years now”. He said that the plan provided for the complete change of the ELGA model, to be able to provide substantial compensations, but mainly it also changed the financing model, enabling bilateral financing: 50% from the producer and 50% from the state, while “we had secured community resources that would contribute to state participation and this would make it possible to double ELGA’s resources”. “It’s a shame that this plan has been left in the drawers, we have set as our primary goal the withdrawal of this plan from the drawers in order to go to a new ELGA regulation, so that they are effectively next to the farmer”, he emphasized. He also mentioned about Imathia, but also the region in general, that the main problem is that young people cannot find jobs to stay in their place. He pointed out that this is also related to the weaknesses of supporting agricultural production and the modernization of the work of producers, but also to the opportunities to support the economy. He noted that a crucial element is the utilization of the Recovery Fund, “a very big opportunity that should not be lost”, which “should not go to a few business groups”.