Yiannis Oikonomou described PASOK’s stance on Universities as a political travesty in his speech to the Parliament, while emphasizing that its role has always been fatal and harmful.

“We are discussing today a cross-cutting bill, which establishes the establishment of non-state-non-profit institutions of higher education in Greece. This is a political position of the New Democracy, for decades, which we fiercely defended against the anachronistic perceptions of the Greek left. DAP, since the late 1980s, proposed and politically defended the establishment of non-state-non-profit institutions of higher education in Greece. And today for all of us, for all those who had the enormous honor of being part of the history of this great student group, is a day of vindication and pride.

If we had proceeded earlier with this reform, we would have, as a state and as a society, received multiple benefits.

The existence of non-state-non-profit institutions of higher education and competition will lead public universities to put their house in order and overcome pathologies that discredit them. Because the monopoly functioned as an alibi for inaction and ultimately regression.

I am referring to the fact that a mentality of compromise prevailed with mediocrity, the lack of aesthetics and cleanliness, the reduced safety of people and facilities, the absence of order and order. This mentality, which is still fanatically defended by the left, measured its life. Society, in its vast majority, abhors and disapproves of it.

I am talking about the sit-ins, which have become a tradition and plague the academic community. Occupancies that are illegal acts. No academic regulation provides that a group of students can occupy spaces and stop the educational process. And yet, there are parties within the Greek Parliament, which support the occupations and become political defenders of illegality. An illegality that discredits our universities and afflicts the great majority of students who cannot put up with batons and those who throw Molotov cocktails.

Also, if we had proceeded earlier with this reform, we would have put order in the field of post-secondary education in Greece, which remained chaotic for many decades. We had the paradox of operating institutions that granted degrees, which were controlled by the Ministry of Commerce and not by the Ministry of Education. That is, a private higher education, with thousands of students every year, in which there was no academic control. And at the same time, we pushed young children to look for studies of dubious quality, in institutions of Balkan countries, while they could study in Greece, with full and strict control of the level of studies.

Who did not let this reform proceed? The forces of the Left and PASOK. In other words, the same ones who are also fighting the current reform.

The left because it sees the public university as a means, not an end. He wants it as a place to recruit followers, as a means of propagating scientifically and socially bankrupt ideas, as a refuge and breeding ground for illegal activities. The left abhors knowledge, modernization, order, research. As far as the ruling left is concerned, its hypocrisy really hit red since it was the one that legislated twice for the tuition fees in postgraduate programs, tuition fees that even reach 15,000 euros a year. And indeed, some who fight for free public education teach and are paid by such programs.

As for PASOK, there is no greater political embarrassment than the attitude it has had over time towards this issue. Especially in the question of higher education, his role was fatal and damaging. Watch out for:

PASOK, with the 1982 law, contributed the most to the educational disintegration of the public university, establishing within it a vulgar partisanship.

In the period 2006-2007, for reasons of intra-party balance, he torpedoed the revision process of Article 16.

And as for today no one understands what he is saying. The party that founded the first Greek university with fees for undergraduate programs, the EAP, is today being cut for the cost of studying in non-state-non-profit universities.

And in fact, the former Prime Minister George Papandreou comes, a few days ago in the Parliament, and proposes in essence the introduction of tuition fees in the undergraduate programs of public universities.

As far as the essence of the bill is concerned, from what they say, the only safe conclusion is that no one has understood which text they have read, however the text of the bill is excluded.

The country cannot go on with this load of contradiction, absurdity and hypocrisy.

We must not overlook, however, that in the bill this weight and tone fall on the public university, to which the great majority of the articles refer. The Government, with institutional and financial tools, enables the public universities of our country – for which we are very proud of their successes and grateful for their contribution to the nation and our homeland – to maintain the dominant position they have in academic map.

Our public universities have history, tradition and distinguished academic staff. They have infrastructures – teaching and research – that were made at the huge expense of the Greek people over the years. They also provide their programs for free, contributing to social justice and mobility.

The State, with this bill, gives them the signal to escape from their shackles and make a quality leap. To proceed quickly with changes in study programs, mergers, readjustment of studies based on international standards, improvement of the quality of teaching, upgrading of security and order in their premises. And the administrations of the public universities must respond to the demands of the times and assume their historical responsibility. The academic map, with its 423 Departments and 1258 postgraduate programs, needs to be put in order by the HEIs themselves. Because it did not come about by design, but as a result of relaxation and arrangements. Finally, in the framework of strengthening public universities, we must immediately complete the issue with the professional rights of the Engineering Schools of PADA, which were evaluated with excellence by ETHAAE.

The academic community must seize the opportunity, because this is what society demands. But also for our government, the challenge is great. This reform in particular has absolutely no room to fail and this increases the responsibility of all of us, the State first. Control mechanisms, in particular ETHAAE, must be relentless defenders of high quality.

It is barbaric to destroy something you cannot understand. I am afraid that this is exactly what PASOK and the Left are trying to do. After all, that’s what they’ve always done for non-state universities. But this time they won’t make it. Because the world has changed and society does not tolerate regression, delay and retirement with mediocrity.”