The opinion that the government “adopted” the measures proposed by the president of SYRIZA-PS, Stefanos Kasselakis, which he presented yesterday morning in a video on social networks, he expressed himself in an interview he gave to the Ertnews show “TO THE CENTER”.

Mr. Kasselakis described the decision to ban all sports fans for two months as a “horizontal measure” and spoke of “the government’s classic approach: when it cannot solve one issue, horizontal measure everywhere”. As for whether the owners of the Sports Corporations are responsible, he said that they “work within a legal framework” which, as he emphasized, is determined by the government.

“Syriza’s first place in the European elections is a social necessity”

“The first place of SYRIZA is a social necessity”, stressed the president of SYRIZA-PS, answering about whether the goal is finally the first place in the upcoming elections despite the split or if the majority is the initial 17%. As he said, “for this reason” he believes he will be first. “We are a solid party” he said, stressing that now “people are being added” even though he lost in “parliamentary presence”. “There are many brilliant minds who want to work selflessly for SYRIZA, there is a source called society. From there we draw, from society, outside the baronies of the New Democracy,” he underlined.

“You can’t be a politician and not listen to the people,” he said, referring to his unannounced tours, adding that he will do the same as the country’s prime minister. He said the reason he is not announcing his schedule for some tours is because he wants to hear “directly” from all citizens and not just SYRIZA supporters about their grievances and their reality. He commented that you have to have a good party organization, “but you also want to listen to a people who are outside the party organization.” He noted that “it is important that we at the party headquarters in Koumoundourou can understand what the truth is out there, what the issues are and what SYRIZA is doing wrong, because that is the only way we will become a government, if we learn our mistakes and then correct them .

“SYRIZA is where Alexis Tsipras is”

Moreover, regarding his relationship with Alexis Tsipras, he called it “excellent” and emphasized that “SYRIZA is where Alexis Tsipras is” and “that SYRIZA must remain deeply social and independent”.

Besides, he ruled out the possibility of changing the party’s constitution at the upcoming Congress and spoke of “ND propaganda” in terms of how “left” he is, clarifying that SYRIZA is “a responsible faction” with the aim “to change the place and to do so wisely and transparently.’

Asked about his position on security policies, he said that “you can have both security and social inclusion” and that “the main thing is to apply the laws and that there is no impunity”.

“The departure of the 11 is a thing of the past”

When asked about the departure of the 11 deputies, he said that “this belongs to the past. Right now I can tell you that our organizations are meeting, that there is a very good atmosphere, a lot of new people are coming and when you produce policy with interaction with society, you win. It just doesn’t happen on the same day. It takes some time.’

“We are the only governing party which can run the country with clean hands”, emphasized St. Kasselakis then, answering a question about possible cooperation with “neighboring areas”.

Asked to comment on SYRIZA’s poll decline, he said that “we have just gone through a split and we are literally at the nadir of our post-Alexis, post-election course”, however, as he clarified, there are already “significant signs of recovery”. He also said that he “breaks many taboos of Greek society” and that “when you break taboos it is absolutely “legitimate” that the Greek citizen needs “time”.

“You don’t do foreign policy with treats to Pinat and bowing to Erdogan”

Mr. Kasselakis argued that SYRIZA has been a fairly responsible opposition in previous years as well “regardless of whether the ND propaganda overshadowed this responsible person that the party had”. “I don’t tolerate lies to the Greek man and the Greek woman”, “if the SYRIZA Foreign Minister bowed to Erdogan when we were in government, can you imagine what would happen to the ND propaganda? the government would have fallen,” he commented about Mr Gerapetritis. He said that “you don’t do foreign policy with treats for Pinat and bowing to Erdogan”, while he added about Greek-Turkish relations that the positive agenda is good, but under no circumstances should we leave Europe out of the dialogue. He noted that Euro-Turkish relations are very important to our national interests “and the fact that this declaration implies that all issues will be resolved bilaterally is not necessarily a position that benefits us…”.

Mr. Kasselakis said that he has asked Mr. Mitsotakis to revise the “national exception” designation, as, he said, the prime minister largely adopts the foreign policy of the SYRIZA government, “as it is in the Cyprus issue referred to in Cran Montana , as are the Prespes…”. He noted that it is an insult to call a party that has governed the country responsibly with good administration both in the economy and in foreign policy a national exception.

“The shielding of the country is not up for negotiation”

Asked if SYRIZA will vote in favor of defense spending in the budget, Mr. Kasselakis noted that “armoring the country is not up for negotiation” and that “at the same time if it appears – and I’m saying this in detail – that a defense expenditure is being boosted we will say so clearly this, we are not going to be afraid.’ He emphasized that the protection of the country includes the economic protection of the country, “not for us to go bankrupt and for the few to get rich. “Of course, let’s be sober when it comes to the defense of the country, but let’s not be fools.” When asked if SYRIZA therefore intends to vote positively if it does not find any evidence that creates doubt, he underlined that “this is the right thing that a responsible opposition should do. The right thing is for him to look at the country’s geopolitical position and ask our allies in return for what we offer and at the same time invest in its defense.”

“we want to invest in public health, housing, build universities”

Speaking about the economy, he noted that the main thing is the recovery, commenting that it is not heaven an economy where civil servants have to see an increase for 12 years, while he added that “70 euros gross is the increase, this is an insult to their intelligence”. He emphasized that “convergence with Europe is the big bet” and that “we have achieved convergence to a certain extent simply because we have impoverishment of the Greek citizen”, citing the field of Health as an example. He referred to key indicators of the economy in relation to other European countries, to ask the question “how is it a great economic success” to “be in position 24 out of 27 in purchasing power”. He emphasized that SYRIZA PS wants to invest in public health, invest in housing, build universities, noting that we must invest in public education.

He mischaracterized the dilemma as “fiscal discipline or benefits”. He said in particular that when SYRIZA took over the government there were 0 euros in the coffers and the country had to build “some cushion so that it can get out of the memoranda, so necessarily we would have a third memorandum, SYRIZA did not bring the third memorandum, necessarily we would also have a third memorandum”. He commented that “I wish we could have been a little more civil and made more benefits in ’19.” He noted that “when SYRIZA took over there were 400,000 families with two parents and two children who had zero income. So how do these families live? There were 2.5 million people who did not have access to care. Here we are talking about a humanitarian crisis that came from the enormous waste and entanglement mainly from the years of Simitis and Kostas Karamanlis”. “I am in favor of a state that is efficient and fully transparent and intervenes and solves social issues”, he emphasized in conclusion. He also stated that in Greece “there cannot be a social welfare state” and the public sector is understaffed.

“Tax evasion is not solved by horizontal measures that are unfair”

The president of SYRIZA PS said that there is tax evasion but “you don’t solve it with horizontal measures that are unfair, you don’t baptize all Greek tax evaders. He emphasized that the limit of 10,000 is a limit of common sense and wondered “how does one live with an income of less than 10,000 in Greece exactly?”. As to whether the accuracy is imported, Mr. Kasselakis mentioned that the government sold part of its shares in ELPE in order to fall below the limit of the statutory majority and that the government would not have the right to control. He asked why the government is doing this, to emphasize that SYRIZA and its president will remain independent and that it will be the party that will say figs-figs and boats-boats, that this truth is visible and how it will it is the reason he will win the election.

Asked to say a measure that SYRIZA would take and that would make a difference in the Greek economy, Mr. Kasselakis emphasized that this is the abolition of the advance payment of income tax to businesses. “I believe this will cause a huge injection of liquidity in the economy and it can also solve a large part of tax evasion. Because finally someone will be able to pay based on their results and not based on a theoretical profit.”

Asked about the justice reform, he expressed his disbelief as to whether the government has the relevant will, giving as an example the investigation into EYP and Predator, which, as he said, “may end up somewhere, maybe not end up somewhere in the state which we live.’ He again appealed to the prime minister “to lift the secrecy of the EYP executives who were under his supervision”. “He told me in his office in Parliament that he does not want to get involved in the judiciary. I tell him ‘it’s not about involvement, it’s about disengagement, you say go ahead Justice with your work'”, he characteristically said, while also calling on Nikos Androulakis to “file a lawsuit against Mr. Mitsotakis and the Governors of the EYP from the moment he knows that they were watching him,” something he said he told himself.

Closing the interview, St. Kasselakis categorically denied the possibility of “leaving” SYRIZA in case of failure, while when asked in which office he feels more comfortable in Koumoundourou or in the Parliament, he said that he feels more comfortable among “society”.