For a policy of underfunding that the government will continue to implement in the Health and Education sectors, the special buyer of the KKE Diamanto Manolakos spoke, during the discussion of the state budget 2024, stressing that basic needs for the health of the people, the education of the of his children, for increases in wages and pensions in order to deal with punctuality, high rents, expensive energy and fuel bills.

He underlined that the state contributes only 30% of the health expenditure, while the people pay 70% out of their own pockets, either because there is a limitation in the diagnostic tests, or because they are not covered by the EOPPY, or because they cannot be done due to understaffing and lack of equipment in public health facilities. Instead of permanent recruitment to fill the gaps, the government is still talking about the strength of the economy, which in practice means that the public health units will continue to be underfunded and understaffed, and overall health care will favor the business groups of the sector.

Mrs. Manolakou mentioned that Education has serious problems with the outdated buildings that house students, the gaps in teachers, the starvation wages for substitute teachers, the reduced school lunches for the children of ordinary families.

And while all this is happening in health and education, the special buyer of the KKE observed that the government is generous in military spendingpaying for expensive equipment that is not for the defense of the country but for the needs of NATO plans, for the needs of the domestic ruling class to upgrade its geostrategic position and therefore its interests in the wider area of ​​the SE Mediterranean.

In relation to the government’s call for salary increases for civil servants, he emphasized that it does not cover the losses they have had until now, while it brings about the permanence of the cuts previously applied by the ND, SYRIZA, PASOK governments with the abolition of the 13th and 14th salary and stated that only in 2022 we had a real 7.5% reduction in wages, while also the nominal increase in pensions is only 3% below inflation, while 750,000 pensioners do not get this minimum increase.

Mrs. Manolakou spoke about the class-based anti-popular nature of the new budget, which is dominated by the policy of privatization and commercialization of the people’s basic needs, is subordinated to the cost-benefit logic based on the priorities of the capitalist economy, leaving the needs of the people at the mercy.

Finally, commenting on the speech of the Minister of National Economy, he emphasized that the many congratulations that the government receives from officials of the EU, the OECD, the European Central Bank and Kr. Lagarde, they are coming because the ND government is implementing their checks that serve the profits of business groups by plunging the people into poverty and misery.