The political conflict over the Monument to the Unknown Soldier and OPEKEPE were the two topics that were raised during the interview of the Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister, Thanasis Kontogeorgis, on SKAI TV.

And first about the dismantling of the ring – according to the indictment – in OPEKEPE, “yesterday was a success for the Greek prosecuting authorities and, of course, there is a very good level of cooperation with the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. From the beginning of the case”: this is what the Deputy Minister pointed out by way of introduction, clarifying that “yesterday’s incident does not concern the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, it was in the context of a preliminary examination”.

On the other hand, he continued, “some are already in prison and trials are being conducted”, also “there is cooperation between Greek prosecuting authorities, justice and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office”.

According to Th. Kontogeorgis, the “unbreakable line”, as he emphasized, is “to have absolute justice in the agricultural world. This means that there is an ethical part, that the stolen, illegally granted, paid compensations are returned. At the same time, it also has the process of separating the chaff from the wheat.”

However, he recognized that all this “has a difficulty because some compensations and subsidies are delayed. But at the same time, from now on, everything that exists in terms of compensations, aid-subsidies and any other scheme” will concern, he noted, “the real farmers and real breeders”.

Regarding the schedule, he said that “by the end of the month, all the compensations for brought materials (Daniel) and fodder will be paid. Immediately after, the restoration of livestock, from culling, proceeds immediately. It is several millions, on October 20 it was closed for the submission of declarations.

Next, “the subsidies, the aids that will be paid in the next period, enter the order. We know that there was a delay, but there was the necessity of the controls, there is an agreement with the European Commission. We cannot risk justice in the agricultural world,” he said while noting that “new fines are threatened, under no circumstances do we want our country to be held accountable at this time.”

The closing message of T. Kontogeorgis was: “The resources will be distributed fairly and where there is a need”. As for the imposed fine, he announced that “there will be an insult procedure. It is due to administrative oversights, it will be distributed over time,” he concluded.

On the Unknown Soldier: The government dealt with the issue “both sensitively and sensibly”

Regarding the Monument to the Unknown Soldier, “the big picture is that we took an initiative that has to do with collective memory and the public space”, emphasized the deputy minister in addition to the prime minister.

From then on, “after the passing of the amendment, the Greek Police, in the proper way, will guard the area. As the Prime Minister mentioned yesterday, there will be cooperation with the Ministry of National Defense which now has the responsibility, which also has the historical memory and knowledge”.

On the actual government initiative for the Memorial, he reiterated that “it was something that needed to be done” and the government dealt with the matter “both sensitively and sensibly”. After all, he added, “it was a discussion that matured, it was deemed appropriate with the completion of the man’s strike on the Constitution. While it wasn’t done before because there is no purpose for either an adversarial relationship or a provocation”, explained the Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister, also saying that “we don’t want past events to be repeated, more difficult and more intense”

At a later point in the interview, he assured that “no one is going to mess with the names” of the victims of Tempe, while he suggested that “The Tree of Souls”, which is located opposite Technopolis, in Gazi, should be highlighted even more. But, he added, “there are spaces that should be given due honor and memory.”

Especially regarding the political confrontation on the matter, as opposed to what the opposition is doing, Mr. Kontogeorgis said that “the government does not deal with the internal affairs of the opposition”, and added, “we must move forward with our work and not waste energy on every scenario of the opposition and what can be done in New Democracy”.

Regarding the debate in the Parliament, he observed that “Ms. Konstantopoulou said what she knew, Mr. Velopoulos was not there, from PASOK there was an ambivalence for various reasons”. And the deputy minister next to the Prime Minister closed by saying that “in times like this we need to highlight what unites us”. Although, from opponents of the government “there is an intention to prevail aggravation, polarization, divisive speech. We had a blast with these! And they have cost us a lot in the past,” he concluded.