“SYRIZA-PS wants and can govern our homeland again,” declared the party’s president Stefanos Kasselakis from Larissa, closing the proceedings of the Regional Conference in Thessaly. “We want to shape a new government program together. We are paving the way for a democratic and progressive government that will listen to society, work for the common good and give every Greek the right to the Greek dream. On this path we want all our citizens to be fellow travelers. Together we will fight and together we will win this battle” he added. Mr. Kasselakis made a special reference to the “crime of Tempe” as he described it: “I went to the scene of the crime, it was a very emotional moment for me. I see children who were a little younger or a little older than me, our fellow citizens who will never have a family, will never study. I wonder if anyone will be punished for the crime? What does it mean I take political responsibility? Words of the wind. How did ND take responsibility for the heinous crime? Protecting her second fireplace? Will anyone go to jail for the hundreds of millions lost to flood control projects that were not done resulting in loss of life? Will anyone go to jail for Pretador and wiretapping? We are the country of impunity, Europe knows it, the European Parliament knows what it is voting for and finally the ND propaganda should stop. There is society against it. SYRIZA exists and we will be against this propaganda and we will claim the right of these people who lost their lives”.

Continuing the attack on the government, he said: “It is also a misfortune for Thessaly that our country is governed by the ND and which until recently was governed by its elected governor. Until the cooperation and common struggle of the progressive forces defeated the local regime. This morning from me and Dimitris Kouretas we saw a new style of politics, imagine if we ruled the whole territory what we would achieve in this place”.

He referred to Thessaly, saying that the Region is lagging behind in all environmental protection programs as well as in rehabilitation programs from natural disasters and added: “The Recovery and Resilience Fund, with its revision, secured an amount of 686 million euros for the restoration of the damages from the storm daniel on roads, bridges, rail and natural disaster prevention. No memberships have been made to this program. Also 35 projects concerning Thessaly and its municipalities remain unfinished. As the regional governor Mr. Kouretas said in the morning, Thessaly was going without brakes, without lights, without mirrors. The image of abandonment comes in addition to the great demographic crisis and the aging of the population. There is an urgent need to change this image, with a program of commitments. A developed country practically supports the affected”.

He made special reference to agriculture. “We have other affected farmers. The energy crisis, combined with geopolitical developments, makes the food crisis a visible threat. At the same time we have a continuous decrease in income through inflationary pressures that work cumulatively and raise prices. We have pressures due to rising production costs mainly due to energy cartels, due to floods and government inefficiency and due to the implementation of the CAP. All this explains and justifies the mobilizations of the farmers. I went to the square of Larissa, I saw the people, the farmers are trying to survive, the consumers are trying to survive on accuracy. Who wins? A few in the middle, the oligopolies. What do we do about them? We have solutions.”

He then mentioned the 7 proposals of SYRIZA-PS among which “the abolition of the Excise Tax on fuel, the ceiling at 7 cents per kilowatt hour on electricity, the subsidy of animal feed and fertilizers, the ceiling on the profitability of companies for the import and trade of supplies, granting compensations from ELGA at 100% for crops and livestock as well as that ELGA should remain public”.

He then stated: “The necessary irrigation and anti-flooding projects must be completed, the CAP must be redesigned and there must be a framework for the regulation of agricultural debts. Agricultural land cannot be liquidated. Several farmers are months away from losing their land. They have no money to get the supplies. Their debts must be settled.”

Mr. Kasselakis underlined two major sections proposed by SYRIZA-PS: “The first section is the national land redistribution program with the utilization of unused lands, whether state-owned or abandoned, as provided by the Constitution. Concession for 50-75 years of land that schools. Creation of new modern production units and financial support from the European Development Fund and the Development Bank. Support for new type cooperative units and start-ups will be qualified.

Second Section: Reconstruction of the banking system is needed. We propose the establishment of a Greek agricultural credit bank. The market is characterized by suffocation. We need to finance the real economy. We will create a state pillar in the banking system and we will create the specialized pillar of agricultural credit.”

He referred to the Water Management Organization of Thessaly, saying that there should be greater involvement of the Local Government. He compared the plan of the ODYTH government where the administration will be held by the government with the reconstruction organization of the Municipality of Athens and added: “as soon as the prime minister’s nephew was defeated, the administration was removed. Why wasn’t it done shortly before the elections?” He noted that SYRIZA has a comprehensive program of decentralization and liberation of the Region from the embrace of state administration. “We want a state headquarters that will produce policies that will be implemented by well-staffed and financed municipalities and regions. For us, local government is a field of convergence. Others want her as party loot. We don’t want a state with clientelism, authoritarianism, bureaucracy and extensive corruption.”

He also mentioned the health sector: “We are preparing a national plan to restructure the national public health system that will restore high health services to all citizens regardless of income as SYRIZA did in 2015-2019”.

He closed with a reference to Education: “It is unacceptable what the government is doing in education, violating the Constitution and destroying the public university and mocking the citizens. The [ανεπιστήμιο Θεσσαλίας όπως και τα άλλα περιφερειακά πανεπιστήμια πρέπει να λειτουργήσουν σαν πυλώνες εκπαίδευσης των νέων και υποστήριξης της κοινωνίας. Προτάσεις και λύσεις υπάρχουν, δεν είναι κλειστές προτάσεις, τις βελτιώνουμε μέσα από διάλογο και διάδραση με την κοινωνία».