“The government’s reaction to the ferry tickets was delayed and communicated without any substantial effect”

For lateness and communication “inconvenience” of the governmentat a time when he has left the market completely uncontrollable, said his press representative SYRIZA – PS, Stergios Kalpakis, speaking on “Kokkino 105.5 FM” and referring to the discussion about the huge cost of ferry tickets.

“It is July 12 and the government decided to deal with this issue just two days ago. The issue, of course, is not only the delayed response effort, but also the lack of political will. When fuel has decreased compared to last year by 45% but the prices of ferry tickets remain high, there is obviously a question of profiteering. Profiteering at the expense of citizens, many of whom have already booked their tickets, and at the expense of those who cannot afford these costs.” noted Stergios Kalpakis.

“This case is reminiscent of the “bites” that Mr. Staikouras supposedly exchanged with the bankers, in the discussion that took place at the time about the very high lending rates. ND deals with all these issues with the same logic. It leaves the market supposedly to self-regulate and when the results are very negative, they declare themselves annoyed, make suggestions, but without anything substantial. And this highlights a strategic difference between ND and SYRIZA – Progressive Alliance”emphasized Stergios Kalpakis.

Regarding the Mitsotakis-Erdogan meeting, he said: “the issue for the Greek side is for Turkey to commit to a structured dialogue with clear red lines, on the basis of international law.” “We will wait for an update, which several times did not exist in the past”, he added.

Referring to the new legislative interventions that the ND is preparing for the vote of Greeks abroad, he underlined: “the new proposal of the government does not seem to differ much from the previous proposal that Mr. Voridis brought in April 2021 and was not adopted then. The current system voted in December 2019 did not have the desired results and this is shown by the very low participation rates in the last elections. We want there to be space and time for dialogue and consultation, so that a synthetic solution can be found, if of course the government does not aim for a game of impressions”, said Stergios Kalpakis, recalling that “in 2018, SYRIZA had a composed proposal that gave the possibility for many more Greeks abroad to vote and elect their representatives. This is good practice in many countries.”

He added that SYRIZA – PS will submit a specific proposal so that citizens can vote from their place of work.

Speaking of the arrogant attitude of the ND, which constantly invokes the election result, he noted: “the vote of the citizens is not a blank check”. “The ND may have won the elections, but that does not mean that the problems of the citizens do not remain here, asking for solutions. Nor does it mean that the official opposition is not legitimized to criticize and submit alternative solutions and proposals, which SYRIZA did sufficiently during the programmatic declarations as well. pointed out Stergios Kalpakis.

Regarding the processes in SYRIZA-PS, he underlined: “We move forward unitedly, collectively and coordinated to the next day, which is a legacy left by Alexis Tsipras, he said. Commenting on the process for the election of the president, Stergios Kalpakis noted: “in the next period a deep political process will develop, with dialogue, with a plurality of opinions, which will attract the interest of society and SYRIZA – Progressive Alliance will come out victorious from all this ».