In an interview with ERT1 today, Haris Kastanidis said that he had nominated himself for the presidency of KINAL, as he considered that “the time has come for the democratic faction to be at the helm of government again, because we must redefine the country tomorrow and we see the life of the Greeks again in a different way “.
As he characteristically stated, “in the very last years, people and their hopes have been swept away”.
He referred to very recent ELSTAT data, which reflect the “grim social and economic reality – as 30% of the country’s households are below the poverty line and 40.8% can not cover the monthly expenses for electricity and heating , while 26% last year could not go to the doctor for any reason other than Covid – to which the Mitsotakis government has led us “and noted that” the different path can not be defined by the conservative faction, we must redefined by the democratic faction. “
“In order to escape from the stagnation of 8% or from the limits of electoral disappearance (as) in 2015 with 4.5% we need to redefine our ideological identity and our programmatic reason” said H. Kastanidis, noting that the programmatic reason must be clear.
He said that the faction managed the crisis “with a lot of courage and a lot of cost, despite the obvious mistakes” while the next “anti-memorandum giants”, A. Samaras and Al. Tsipras “crossed the river unscathed despite the fact that they implemented the same policies devised by the lenders and for which the lenders delayed self-criticism for the wrong policy mix”.
He reminded that he was deleted when he did not vote for the 2nd Memorandum and also noted that the current gloomy reality “is a result of Mr. Mitsotakis’ policies, not a result of the policies of the last decade”.
Ch. Kastanidis said that now a comprehensive program will be needed that strengthens participatory democracy and participatory economy.
As he explained in contrast to “content-stripped democracy where decision-making centers are defined by oligarchic interests”, “participatory democracy” means “the ability of civil society to intervene and define – by referendum or popular legislative initiative – the functioning of democracy towards benefit of the public interest “.
Regarding the participatory economy, he said that it means the possibility of rapid interventions in a “dense network of economic and social exchanges between cities and regions to enhance regional development”.
Ch. Kastanidis spoke of a “social economy” in the form of “citizens’ partnerships” following the example of Barcelona, which invoked and asked the following question: “Why should the social security system be under public or private control? control as Mr. Mitsotakis now wants? “Why can’t we gradually move to a cooperative form of administration of insurance funds that are self-administered to policyholders who submit their contribution and control their administration?”
Asked about cooperation in implementing such policies, he said that the above examples are some of the programmatic reasons and stressed that “progressive policy was not a matter of cooperation in 1981, 1996 or 2009, but a matter of political perception. ».
He made it clear that “there is no point of ideological and programmatic contact with ND” and that “the element of trust in SYRIZA is missing”.
He also said that he would not allow the “huge responsibilities of the period 2004-2009 for the bankruptcy of the country” not to be revealed, adding that “it will not always be the well-educated children of history, the right that sets the country on fire and then leaves sideways the responsibility for the disaster it caused “.
He said that the next day, as far as he is concerned, is “in conditions of absolute unity, we must prepare a Declaration of similar historical importance to that of September 3 (s.s. September 3, 1974, PASOK Founding Declaration) to be ratified at the conference. When asked if this should be done regardless of the winner of the internal party elections, he replied “I say what I will do. I hope others will say the same. “
He clarified that he will raise the issue of “return to PASOK” at the regular conference. He added that in addition to the Declaration, a Program should be drawn up that will include “huge changes in the state, in the productive model of the country in institutions and in Education, while a very important part of the agenda will be the reconstruction of the Welfare State”.
He said that if a leader is not elected, the party will seek to move in that direction, noting at the same time, “people should think about what they decide.”
Asked to comment on KINAL’s non-uniform stance during the vote in the House of Commons, he said that “in one democratic party I support the other’s disagreement, even if I disagree with him”.
“The Penal Code, as revised by the government, is a legal and intellectual offense,” he said, advocating a “preventive anti-crime policy, because it helps, not just the severity of penalties.”
Ch. Kastanidis expressed the hope that the turnout of the citizens in the internal party elections of KINAL will exceed that of 212,000 in the respective process of 2017, while he stressed that “when a large number of citizens participate, the election result is determined by society, while when a small number participates citizens, the result is endangered by the mechanisms of the background or by extra-institutional ones “.
Finally, Ch. Kastanidis said that he gives his consent to what is agreed between his fellow candidates regarding the conduct of the debate, without setting conditions, “because sometimes the conditions nullify the intentions”.
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