The president of SYRIZA-PS, Sokratis Famellos, spoke of a “negative development in all fields of social and economic functioning in the prefecture of Serres” during the press conference he gave as part of his tour there.

“There are negative demographic indicators and municipalities that show a population decrease of even more than 30% in the decade”, he noted, speaking of “extreme concern”, as there are three times more deaths in the Prefecture of Serres than births. “The problems all start from the policy of abandoning the countryside, which is being implemented, almost by design, by this government,” he emphasized, adding that “the periphery of the country has been left at the mercy and abandonment of a government whose only goal is bribery, ministerial and parliamentary seats and the super profits of a few groups.”

“The small and medium entrepreneurship, which is connected to the local product, is too much pressured by the extreme costs and precision in the basic operational needs”, continued S. Famellos, while also referring to the problems at the Serres Hospital, such as the “disciplinary proceedings against pathologists, because due to the small staffing, six out of thirteen, the outpatient clinics cannot be staffed”.

Regarding the agricultural sector, he said that “unfortunately, the prefecture of Serres, in addition to the OPEKEPE scandal, which has led to the cutting of subsidies and aid, and to the theft of subsidies and aid, is now also affected by the huge problem of smallpox in goats and sheep”. He also referred to the proposal submitted by SYRIZA in September, which includes the formation of a scientific committee which, as he said, was done with a delay of one month. “It was a proposal of SYRIZA-PS, but they have not answered the other big issues, which the livestock farmers put to us here as well”, he commented.

“The government proves at every opportunity its inadequacy, but also that it is dangerous”, said S. Famellos, underlining that “this disastrous government must leave as soon as possible”.

“Even the big issues we discussed last week in the Parliament, from foreign policy to the political management of the Sacred Monument of the Unknown Soldier, it turns out that this government, even the big, important and difficult issues, is managing them only for its poll benefit, so Mr. Mitsotakis for his chair”, he noted, speaking of “political responsibility for these problems”.

“Whether you have your doctor, your teacher, whether you have fodder for your herd and reinforcements for your field, is a matter of politics. It’s a political choice. That’s why political change is needed,” he said, closing, and called on citizens to “participate in politics, because only by participating in politics can you change things in your life and make our children live better.”

Asked, among other things, about the “yes” of the Political Secretariat to the association with Alexis Tsipras, he explained that “what the Political Secretariat said by an overwhelming majority is that these parallel paths must converge.” “They must converge through a program, on specific axes, within the framework of the cooperation of the progressive forces with excesses”, he added, while clarifying that such “excesses are not yet seen by the other political forces”, PASOK and the New Left.

“We go beyond the differences in some individual readings, we see the bigger picture and what society says,” he noted.