M. Katrinis: PASOK is neither willing nor convenient for ND and SYRIZA

The head of the PASOK-KINAL Parliamentary Group, Michalis Katrinis, launched a fierce attack on the government during the discussion in the Plenary of the Ministry of Education’s bill for the new management model of HEIs.

Mr. Katrinis accused the government of continuing to implement ideological conservative policies in education, while refusing dialogue and consensus, and spoke of a deeply anti-reform bill that gathers the reaction of the entire university community.

Mr. Katrinis also accused both the ND and SYRIZA of small-party tactics and deliberate attacks against PASOK-KINAL, while he stressed that his party is neither convenient nor willing to co-govern and does not abandon its principles for a governance with ethics that will move the country forward.

Responding to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis who called on PASOK-KINAL to rise to the occasion, Mr. Katrinis specifically stated:

“It is an oxymoron for the prime minister to ask PASOK-KINAL to rise to the occasion, and to ask this of a faction that, in critical moments of the country, not only rose to the occasion, but unilaterally and unequivocally paid for the national elections which he did when Mr. Mitsotakis and his government hid behind easy solutions and searches.

It is an oxymoron, when the prime minister himself dynamits the toxic confrontation, to ask for consensus.”

Mr. Katrinis defended his party’s negative attitude towards the bill, stressing that he “clearly disagreed from the beginning of the process, as the government refused dialogue and chose without consensus to bring provisions that exacerbate the problems and provoke the universal reaction of the university community”.

“The government wants to escape from the unpleasant situation that the country and society are experiencing, creating a virtual reality against the painful problems and data of its policy, such as the epidemiological situation of the country. The 15,000 and 20,000 daily cases spoil the narrative. and her sleep and above all it confirms in society’s consciousness another failure of hers”, said Mr. Katrinis and added:

“The government expects that the unpleasant problems created by its anti-popular policies, such as the more expensive borrowing of the country and the yield of the 10-year Greek bond, which was set at twice its initial issue, will not be revealed.

If it is revealed after the elections, the extent of the problems that the government diligently hides under the carpet, then the Greek citizens will have to pay the bill. Like the cost of the energy crisis where Greece scores the second highest position in the EU and the highest in industrial enterprises.

However, the government cannot disorient society from the suffocating everyday life it experiences, while it continues to collect from the super-revenues of obscene profit, returning crumbs. All government measures are of a pre-election nature. Her only concern is to steal the vote of the Greek citizens with fireworks, turning black into white”.

Mr. Katrinis called it a “myth that the bill has a reform agenda” arguing that its provisions are conservative and linked to anachronistic failed logics.

“It is clear that this is an anti-reform framework, and despite its individual positive provisions, such as those concerning the church, rationality, democratization, and the convergence and consensus of parties and universities are absent from the bill,” he pointed out.

Mr. Katrinis spoke of the government’s ideological logic, aimed at serving small interests, without giving vision and perspective to the new generation.

“It’s a politics of cronyism and micro-fixes with preferential treatment for colleges. All of your legislative initiatives are piecemeal, incomplete and without a unified strategy. And today’s bill confirms that the government is improvising,” he noted.

At this point, Mr. Katrinis defended the proposals submitted by his party, stressing that “they are proposals of applied policy that aim at full respect for the self-governing and democratization of HEIs and not at their complete undermining, as the government seeks”.

He emphasized the new management model of the HEIs, stressing that, “we see it as an institution of social accountability, with the rector elected by the faculty members, but also with active and effective councils”, while he called the government’s claim that the system he proposes applies in EU countries.

“The need for interdisciplinary capability of the universities is already provided, therefore the government did not discover, neither the international cooperation, nor the internal mobility”, noted Mr. Katrinis and continued:

“We say yes to respect for self-government and the democratization of universities, yes to meritocracy and transparency for the election of rectors and deans, but we say no to their absolute commercialization and no to banning access to a large part of the youth.

You are proposing an over-regulation, without a meaningful dialogue, which is causing enormous disruption in academia, with harsh and centralized management characteristics that do not allow each university to draw up its own strategy based on its own characteristics.”

“The government withdraws from its self-evident obligation to strengthen the public university and chooses to commercialize them with a false term of life that will be as long as the term of the minister of education, because soon the problems of the bill will emerge. Why ever , no reform has had such a conservative message,” he said.

Finally, Mr. Katrinis spoke of deliberate attacks that PASOK-KINAL receives from ND and SYRIZA, because as he said, it does not appear to be willing or convenient towards them.

“PASOK is neither willing nor convenient as a small government partner in a government that will talk about the chairs. Our choice is an autonomous course, because a strong PASOK is security for the country, society, and the economy.

Messrs. Mitsotakis and Tsipras are only interested in the prime ministership and not in the content of a governance that will be linked to meaningful social choices and not to the reproduction of slogans without meaningful content. Why is the country not governed by advertisements and polls”, pointed out Mr. Katrinis and added:

“The back-and-forth of the elections, the artificial impasses and the creation of political polarization are toxic for society, the economy, but also the country, which needs a deep change to leave behind what anchors it. So it needs a new ethos – a governance model , which will reduce inequalities and give equal opportunities to young people and society. These are our own priorities, not who will be the next day.”

“PASOK-KINAL is not pressured, does not retreat and does not abandon its principles, but signals the new beginning. It heads with its head held high, with proposals and a comprehensive plan in the search for consensus for the solution of major problems, with responsibility and realism for the overthrow of political impasses that were tried, failed and cost the country”, concluded Mr. Katrinis.