He characterized the functioning of the economy as unhealthy, the president of PASOK – Movement for Change, Nikos Androulakis, speaking late at noon at the Economic Postman Forum. Mr. Androulakis argued that inflation and accuracy have become policy tools for the ND, as he earns from VAT and gives back with some Passes, having taken them first. However, he noted that some of the benefits that provide relief for a while, PASOK cannot fail to vote for them.

He harshly criticized the treatment of accuracy followed by the government, stating that it does not have a policy of control and normalization of the market, nor can it celebrate the fines imposed by DIMEA, while it reiterated the position to reduce the VAT on basic products and argued that more controls should be done to crack down on speculation.

Regarding the government’s decision about fan violence, Nikos Androulakis said that they are measures to be seen. “Did they wait for a child to be mutilated and for us to have two murders to go and make the move now? These are communication games when they have reached a dead end. We asked for a lifetime ban from the playing fields of those who express fan violence”, said the president of PASOK-KINAL.

Mr. Androulakis emphasized that it is the duty of the productive opposition that PASOK-KINAL is doing, to call things by their name and ring a big bell about the course of the economy and the widening inequalities. “Health and Education cannot collapse and give crumbs”, he noted, supporting the need to strengthen the social state.

Invited to comment on it strong political dominance of the ND and Kyriakos Mitsotakis recorded by the opinion polls, the president of PASOK-KINAL pointed out that although the people may have voted for ND with 41%, they had also voted for K. Karamanlis with a similar percentage in 2007. “I don’t want to be Cassandra of the blacks oracles, but let us have memory. An election result does not mean that it creates better conditions,” he claimed.

Re-set as default aim for PASOK to be the second party in the European electionss – “getting 15-16% or more is not our final goal”, he said – as it is a middle ground, with the final goal in the next national elections for the ND to have a real opponent and be defeated. “I am sure that we will be given the opportunity to face ND. We want to fill the void that exists today, created by the collapse of SYRIZA, not through populism, but by rebuilding the democratic faction as a governing force,” underlined Mr. Androulakis.

He added that PASOK went through difficult years, but it is steadily rising, renewing itself, winning its program for all generations. “There will be a much bigger result for PASOK. But nothing is straight. There are cuts. At some point things will become clear,” he said.

Commenting on the split of SYRIZA, Nikos Androulakis stated that he acted with populism and delusions of Mr. Tsipras and thus his path was predetermined. “I don’t want to comment anything more. I’m interested in us being serious and measured”, he continued.

Finally, the president of PASOK-Movement of Change was asked about the new dimension in Greece’s relations with Turkey. He mentioned that PASOK is traditionally in favor of dialogue, but in the context of respecting international law with a patriotic sign. “What we saw was another show, from both sides. I don’t know what happened from the meeting, apart from the photo with the dog in Maximos”, he commented decisively, while expressing the opinion that as time goes by Turkey will be stronger and Greece will lose.