Controversy in Parliament over the 2015 referendum and the post-election alliances

“You, Mr. Varoufakis, had nothing to lose when you closed the banks,” Health Minister Thanos Plevris replied to MERA 25 secretary Yanis Varoufakis regarding the 2015 referendum and the political debate about alliances the day after the elections.

Mr. Plevris told the secretary of MERA 25 that SYRIZA will never answer you about the 2015 referendum because “it is his past that he wants to hide. You, Mr. Varoufakis, are the past that SYRIZA wants to hide, “Alexis Tsipras was the Minister of Alexis Tsipras. As Minister of Alexis Tsipras, you were carrying out the orders of the Government of Alexis Tsipras and as soon as the difficulties came, Alexis Tsipras and SYRI tried to forget his past.”

He opposed what Mr. Varoufakis said about the effects of the referendum, saying that “we have all seen what you said that day, that it is indecent for the Minister of Finance, for you, to stand at the ATMs when you closed the banks! Because Mr. Varoufakis is Why wouldn’t you have a problem even if the system collapsed completely? Tell me, what are your financial interests as Varoufakis you? Because if all that you wanted were realized and the banking system in Greece had collapsed, how much would you have You had property that would not have been affected by the collapse of Greek banks, so I tell you it was indecent to have assets that are not affected by the collapse of Greek banks, but to play as a gambler the Greek people in what will happen “.

Indecent Mr. Varoufakis, the minister continued was that “on the day it was voted -after the disastrous referendum, which you did- and after the whole world had left the Parliamentary Group and this faction was found here, the party should put Greece above all else to stay “You did not come to Parliament to defend your policy. You were in Aegina. You did not come to support your policy. Let the Greek people hear your own story and we can not forget that, Mr. Varoufakis.”

You argue that if the path you believed in had been followed, it would have been the path that would have solved the problem. “What we are saying is that it is the catastrophic road and more responsible than you is the then Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras, who allowed the country to reach the edge of the cliff.”

Mr. Plevris asked SYRIZA if what Mr. Tsakalotos said is true that his choice is a possible co-government with Mr. Varoufakis? And if it is a choice of SYRIZA to follow the plan of Mr. Varoufakis, as he presented it to us here. SYRIZA should answer this. Does Mr Tsipras want that? Is MERA25 the progressive government? “But SYRIZA will never answer this! And do you know why it will not answer you? Because what you did was a personal choice of Alexis Tsipras and as soon as he saw the consequences of what was happening, he told us to load them “So, when we say Varoufakis we say Alexis Tsipras. That is why you will always be accountable and always when Alexis Tsipras looks in his mirror he will see Yanis Varoufakis”.

The parliamentary representative of SYRIZA-PS Panos Skourletis, in his intervention, replied to Mr. Plevris that “I understand your effort, as we walk towards the elections, to want at all costs to avoid the discussion about your current policy, about your failures, for the inability to manage the pandemic, the accuracy, and want to go in 2015.

We accept this challenge. Because the period 2015-2019 was the beginning of the end of the memoranda. It was the SYRIZA government that closed the vicious circle of memoranda, and especially that first half of the tough negotiation, when you were playing the role of the fifth phalanx, when your government officials were saying “Vasta, Seibel”, when you were saying that Memoranda are a blessing and if they did not exist we would have discovered them. That’s what you said! When Mrs. Bakoyannis said that “the banks may not reopen”. Do you remember these? When you speculated about the collapse of the country “and characterized” at the time of the referendum of 62%. Because it forced the most extreme voices within Europe to accept the legitimately democratic, elected government and theories of exile in the country. This is the truth that hurts you. It is when the popular factor intervenes dynamically and changes the data, and this result has led to a less painful compromise. And the Greek people know that today. It is a memorandum that you say is unnecessary, but it was a mild memorandum, which closed the vicious circle of memoranda. And today, you came and made the dudes with the backs of managing the finances of the SYRIZA government from 2015 to 2019 “.

The secretary of MERA 25, Giannis Varoufakis, on his part told the minister that “I do not allow you to lie unabashedly and continuously. First, I told you that I described it indecent for the Minister of Finance that day to sit in the queue of ATM and I explained to you why, because I thought that at the time when my fellow MPs were emptying the ATMs of the Parliament, the ATMs, which, unlike the ATMs of the people out there, and with the responsibility of my own signature, were not refilled by the bank of Greece, it was indecent for the Minister of Finance, it would be like the captain on the ship, who goes to drink water before the last passenger drinks. I am absolutely clear on that. It’s a lie, do you remember what that meeting was about? To authorize Euclid Tsakalotos to negotiate on behalf of the Greek Parliament in Brussels. permission from the Greek Parliament to negotiate? I sent a letter to the Speaker of Parliament and said that I authorize him. But when he came back with the memoranda, I was here day and night, every second, fighting against the memorandum. I voted against it and supported my positions. But you said something else, about whether I played the country dice, the real estate, if I have real estate. Let me not drop the level. Let me not drop the level of talking about staff. I will speak politically. Since December 2009 I have been telling George Papandreou “Do not dare to take a huge loan, a big credit card from which to pretend that you are withdrawing money to pay off your debts”. Since then I have had a stable position […]. This has always been my attitude. And what was I saying? Any patriotic government had to say “no to new credit cards”, with a rupture and if it takes a drachma to think about it. We do not want it, but just as when Erdogan threatens to take an island from you, you do not say “I will never go to war”, so you never say “I will not go to the national currency”. It was my position since 2009. I came down in January 2015 with SYRIZA with this position, I voted with this position, I became Minister of Finance with this position of rupture, I went to EUROGROUP and I made this rupture. “I am proud that when Alexis Tsipras capitulated with the leading team of SYRIZA – it is their right, it was their party, I did not even belong to SYRIZA – I resigned and since then I continue to be here and say exactly the same thing”.

The Minister of Health Thanos Plevris remarked to the parliamentary representative of SYRIZA that he did not raise his glove and did not answer to Mr. Varoufakis and this is evaluated, as it is evaluated that you can not say Mr. Varoufakis that when “people stand in line with your decisions so from above to mention that it is indecent “also” in the meeting, the one after the referendum, where you had ceased to be Minister of Finance and all the Greek people waited to see what would happen you chose to be absent, to come and say what has happened “and on a personal level he said to him” you, Mr. Varoufakis, what consequences would you have from the collapse of the banking system if it finally happened and it is not personal. Because, in a collapse you could continue your life as you had it before, with a successful course outside Greece, but here the whole world would be without deposits. And this, then, is not a personal criticism “and he concluded” I blame SYRIZA, because while you convinced him of all this and you were instructed to implement all this, he is trying to transfer the responsibility elsewhere to you and for this reason I insist: Alexis Tsipras equals Giannis Varoufakis. This was the first eight months that cost the Greek people, we paid for this with an unnecessary new memorandum and SYRIZA was judged for this very thing “.

Mr. Varoufakis countered that since the beginning of January 2015, as soon as the election was announced, I had sent a letter of resignation to the University of Texas, where I was teaching. And while I could have taken unpaid leave – to have the “butt” they say – to return I did not have it as I had that I will never leave Greece again, because my luck is connected now, from the moment I go down in the political arena, in such a difficult situation, with the fate of those who are forced to live in this country. So, I think that’s the answer. ”

PASOK KINAL parliamentary representative Nadia Giannakopoulou said that this confrontation brings to the fore completely condemned times in the consciousness of the Greek people. It brings to the fore again the period of the first half of the SYRIZA-ANEL government, with Mr. Varoufakis as then minister. We all remember, especially the Greek citizens, how with the catastrophic first half of that government we reached a step from the edge of the precipice. We have reached a step outside the European Union and the Greek people have paid for all this with a third and unnecessary memorandum, the worst memorandum of all! The SYRIZA-ANEL memorandum, the memorandum brought by the manipulations of Mr. Varoufakis and Mr. Tsipras. This is the truth and this is the reality. This is something that Greek citizens cannot forget. All this adventure of 2015! It is our duty, then, that the country does not return, that Greece does not return, in such times and in such adventures. I think we have learned the lesson.

SOURCE: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ