Al. Tsipras: There is an immediate need for political change and a plan for the reconstruction of the national economy

“Immediate political change is needed, a progressive government and a plan to rebuild the national economy, the countryside with the five points – commitments we have tabled, where there is a special reference to the rural world. First and foremost with the debt settlement that was created during of the pandemic, because the state must find helpers and support the rural world, the rural and small and medium enterprises “.

This was emphasized, among others, by the president of SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance, Alexis Tsipras, during an extensive discussion he had today with farmers and stockbreeders in the square of the community of Savalia, located near the city of Amaliada.

At the same time, he noted that “it is necessary to have, at least for the duration of the crisis, the refund of excise duty on agricultural oil, in order to reduce production costs, while it is necessary to have a substantial subsidy of the agricultural and livestock world for fertilizers and the agro-supplies, to move forward the compensations where they did not exist quickly and to proceed with liquidity programs for the rural world “.

He also stressed that “right now, when things are difficult, we need a government that will give justice to the country, that will not strengthen the few and powerful, but will give battles and struggle for the many.”

In fact, as he characteristically stated, “if there is no immediate intervention of the state to support the income of the rural world and create favorable conditions for production, then in six months the countryside will be deserted and we will find ourselves in situations that we have to live from in the 50s “.

Elsewhere in his speech, Alexis Tsipras said that “we are in an age where those who win are not people of toil and creation, but those who make good, those who earn from the sweat of others” and added:

“The years I have been following the political affairs in the country are perhaps the worst moment for the rural world, even from the most difficult times in the early 1910s, when harsh memoranda plagued agricultural production and the rural world.

And things are more difficult, because we have both the frightening increase in production costs and the decrease in revenue in the market price of products, but above all we have an unprecedented increase in the price of electricity that entrains everything. We have a frightening increase in agricultural supplies, fertilizers and animal feed. Also, recently there have been power outages in areas and lands where there is production, in livestock areas and infrastructure, as well as in the so-called TOEB, due to debts, as a result of which large areas are not irrigated “.

Alexis Tsipras also pointed out that “the huge increases in electricity bills have nothing to do with the energy crisis and the war in Ukraine, but only part of the increases, because the effects of the war and the energy crisis are all over Europe.” .

“But in the crisis,” he continued, “energy tariffs have risen on average across Europe by 20 to 25% and in Greece they have risen by an average of 80% and are going uphill over time.”

“This is happening”, according to the leader of the official opposition, “because the government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis has left the so-called blue golden-boys of PPC with the exorbitant fees they receive and reach 360,000 euros a year and at the same time give themselves a bonus 16 million euros, at a time when most Greeks can not pay for electricity. ”

He also stated that “the government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis pursued a policy that was disastrous and led with mathematical precision to this situation that we all experience, that is, citizens sink into debt, the country into energy insecurity and some get rich.”

“The government,” he stressed, “gives little to the many and too much to the few, that is, it gives even more to those who make a profit, but the vast majority of their citizens are deprived not only of the right to a dignified life, but of the right to survival”.

Continuing the attack on the government and the Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Alexis Tsipras referred to the Recovery Fund and addressed those gathered and wondered: “Will we leave the 72 billion euros from the recovery fund to be managed by” Mitsotakis SA “? “.

For this, as he added, “I have submitted a proposal to become a parliamentary committee for this money”. “No party and no government should consider this money as belonging to them. There should be transparency, accountability, knowing where to go and prioritizing needs. The energy crisis and the crisis of accuracy are forcing us all to redesign what the government as a project in the European Commission, because it leaves out agricultural production and small and medium-sized enterprises, since this government only supports the funds “he added, saying at this point, that” we will do everything in our power to to support agricultural production “.

Visit to the City Hall of Pyrgos

Earlier, Alexis Tsipras met with the mayor of Pyrgos, Panagiotis Antonakopoulos and in his statements he mentioned, among other things:

“The prefecture of Ilia has been totally wronged. For the past three years, for no particular reason, issues that were launched have not progressed without an adequate explanation. And the gratuitous shot came with the university departments. I want to pledge that we will not face its citizens. Ilia, as second-class citizens, I promise that university departments will reopen with the new Higher education plan we have, and of course all our other commitments remain, which more generally concern the image of the economy and social policy, which obviously also concern its citizens. “Your area, as you are a prefecture that does not belong to the ‘penthouses’.

For his part, the mayor said, among other things, addressing the president of SYRIZA-PS: “You honor us with the interest you show for our region. The big issues of our country have found an effective ally.”