The “rhetorical tactics of the ministers of the New Democracy”, was assessed by the parliamentary representative of the New Left, Euclid Tsakalotos, during the debate of the budget in the Parliament. In these rhetorical tactics, Mr. Tsakalotos, among others, included:

– The “deliberate distortion” of the opponent’s arguments and the questioning of his motives. “iconic example” characterized Euclid Tsakalotos, the case of the Minister of Health. “We tell him: The NHS has many problems, citizens do not have access to health services, permanent recruitments are not made. And he answers: Whoever criticizes does not care about the workers and attacks them. In fact, the minister ends it when he feels that he is being suffocated by the injustice of the attacks on the ESY staff”, said the parliamentary representative of the New Left and added that the honorary distinction is awarded to the prime minister himself “who when we ask him if there are any re-promotions, he answers us that we openly or secretly support the Turks and their interests.”

– Attacking the opposition before it can even ask a question, so as to ensure the government short-circuits the debate. An emblematic example of this rhetorical practice is the Minister of Justice, said Mr. Tsakalotos and added: “The minister says: The entire opposition supports the criminals. The goal is to avoid substantive discussion and to avoid questions such as whether longer sentences actually reduce crime, or the question of allowing a police witness not to appear in court if it violates the defendant’s right to cross-examination. present the policeman as a witness”.

– The answers should not be related to the question. The parliamentary representative of the New Left described the finance minister as an “emblematic example” of this rhetorical tactic. “We tell him: We are in the bottom four of the OECD in terms of average wages, and he replies: Unemployment has decreased. Honorable mention: Unfortunately again Mr. Hatzidakis. We tell him about data on the composition of investments and whether they change the productive structure. And he answers for Pfizer, Google and Microsoft”, said Euclid Tsakalotos.

-To turn failure into success. “An emblematic example: the Deputy Minister of Finance Mr. Theocharis. The opposition, Mr. Katrinis, tells him: The government is not doing enough, it is not intervening to deal with the problems. He answers us: This is a compliment and an encouragement to the government to continue its work,” said the parliamentary representative of the New Left.

“The faithful observance of these rules may make you a good neo-democratic politician and a worthy member of the Mitsotakis government, however, they degrade the quality of democracy and political dialogue so much that you wonder if there is anything further down the line,” said Mr. Tsakalotos.