N. Iliopoulos: Mitsotakis subregion will be held accountable

“The Mitsotakis parastatus will not avoid being held accountable,” said the press representative of SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance, Nasos Iliopoulos, speaking on ERT’s “First Program” radio.

“The main concern of the Mitsotakis government is the cover-up. On July 29 there was a letter from the Commission to the Greek side asking about the Predator and surveillance and the government’s official response was that these are issues of national security and it is good for the Commission to do not engage further,” he underlined. He added that “the government did not deny yesterday’s report by the Journal of Editors that a central order was given to the EYP to proceed with the destruction of surveillance material”.

“The government is trying to cover the traces of an objective responsibility,” said Nasos Iliopoulos. “Mr. Mitsotakis himself admitted that there is political responsibility, making the paradox of trying to limit this responsibility to two persons appointed by him, the former commander of the EYP and his general secretary, Mr. Dimitriadis, denying that the he himself has a political responsibility”, he emphasized, commenting that “the most dangerous thing of course is that we have returned to a discourse of national pride”. “When we hear from the prime minister that surveillance was carried out on an elected MEP and – a candidate at the time – leader of the third parliamentary party for reasons of national security, that is, that the political opponents of the ND are dangerous for national security, then unfortunately we return to some of the darkest pages of modern Greek History”, he noted.

He also underlined that from the side of the government “there is a huge contradiction: based on which procedure the government and Mr. Gerapetritis invite Mr. Androulakis to be informed about his monitoring, when with an amendment they have abolished the obligation of the EYP to inform the ADAE and then ADAE to inform a citizen about his monitoring”. “The second question, of course, is how Mr. Androulakis could have been informed, when Mr. Gerapetritis stated that neither he nor anyone knows the reasons for this surveillance,” added Nasos Iliopoulos.

“In any European country, at this moment Mr. Kontoleon and Mr. Dimitriadis would have already passed through the relevant committee of the Parliament. In Greece they are hiding. Also, in any European country the government would have resigned after such a scandal “, he stated. “The crucial thing in this case is that Mr. Mitsotakis claims the privilege of not being accountable, that is, of not explaining the reason why he made the decision to monitor an elected MEP. Democracy, however, means accountability and we will not allow the parastatal he has created Mr. Mitsotakis should not be held accountable”, emphasized Nasos Iliopoulos.

“I am also very impressed that the European People’s Party is blocking the hearing of Nikos Androulakis in the competent committee of the European Parliament that will discuss the subject of surveillance. What exactly are they afraid of?”, he said.

“SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance raised this issue very high already when the case of surveillance of the journalist Thanasis Koukakis became known. When the government puts the EYP to monitor a man who does investigative journalism and exposes government-banking scandals, it is a matter of Democracy. When Kathimerini reports that seven other political figures are being monitored and the government does not deny it, this shows that we are at the tip of the iceberg,” he pointed out.

Asked about the developments on the accuracy front, Nasos Iliopoulos emphasized: “at the moment in Greece the average price of a megawatt hour is at 697 euros – one of the highest prices in Europe – while in Spain it is at 187”. “No miracle has happened. In that crucial meeting, Greece had the choice to be on the side of Spain and Portugal and Mr. Mitsotakis chose not to be. These countries chose to disconnect the price of electricity from the price of of natural gas and put a ceiling on wholesale,” he added.

In an interview on the website pagenews.gr, he noted that “the government in September will give almost 2 billion to the energy market”. “It will give it to the providers, to those who loot the society and it will give it from the people’s money. Based on the official budget figures, in the first seven months of the year alone we have 5 billion in increased tax revenue compared to the target, of which about 2.5 billion is from VAT alone. In the midst of extreme inflation, the government refuses to reduce excise duty on fuel and VAT on basic food items. It is also robbing citizens in this way and then giving this money to the providers. This is not support, it is looting through two routes,” explained Nasos Iliopoulos.

Speaking on the First Program and referring to labor issues, he underlined that “in Greece at the moment there is a Balkan-type labor market”. “And I’m not just referring to the tragic incidents we saw today, the MAT beating the -justified- strikers at the “Malamatina” factory. At the moment, the European average of employee coverage by collective agreements is 60% and the European Commission’s target is to reach 80%. In Greece we are below 20% and with the Hatzidakis law we will go even lower,” he said.

Finally, when asked by pagenews.gr about the upcoming TIF, he noted: “whatever Mr. Mitsotakis says at the TIF, he cannot hide that in his days it is the first time in the modern history of the country that a house with two workers he can’t make the month”. “For the first time since 2015, poverty rates are increasing again. And this is not a typical failure of the government, it is the result of a specific policy. So the best thing that could be done is elections to get rid of the Mitsotakis government and politics”, concluded.