N. Iliopoulos: Mr. Mitsotakis is panicking over the issue of lignite

“Kyriakos Mitsotakis yesterday admitted his guilt in the huge increase in energy prices,” said SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance spokesman Nassos Iliopoulos, referring to the prime minister’s announcement to extend the use of lignite until 2028.

“Mr. Mitsotakis admitted that the electricity bills that have been coming all this time too inflated bear his own signature, they bear the signature of a government that proceeded to a violent de-ligation,” he said, speaking Wednesday night on the main television news bulletin. “Egnatia Television” station. “No one disputes that there were units that should be closed in the context of the energy transition. However, under the responsibility of the government, two strategic mistakes were made: one was the violent de-ligation that increased the country’s dependence on Russian gas and the other was the further privatization of PPC “, underlined Nassos Iliopoulos.

“These choices have led Greece to record a negative record in the wholesale price of electricity, long before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, already in August,” he explained, adding: “Last Monday, in just one day, wholesale electricity prices increased by 39% because the participation of lignite was not what it should be “. “The country does not have a strategic lignite stock at the moment because the lignite fields are abandoned,” Nassos Iliopoulos noted, adding that the government’s “folds” are paid for by citizens who can not make a month. ”

Against the background of the announcements that are expected for a new negative inflation record, he commented: “Inflation hits the people with the lowest incomes much worse”. “Greece today is the only country in the eurozone where the minimum wage is lower than in 2010,” Nassos Iliopoulos reiterated, noting that “here and now the minimum wage must be increased to 800 euros.” He reminded that “when in 2019 the SYRIZA government increased the basic salary by 27% for those under 25 and 11% in total, consumption and public revenues increased”.

“At the same time, we must make use of all these tools that even the Commission has proposed: first of all the reduction of the excise duty on fuel, a measure which if implemented for a year will cost 1.5 billion, a cost that is, absolutely possible “, stressed the SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance spokesman. He further added that “the” skyrocketing “profits of energy companies need to be taxed.” “Taxing these profits can directly finance the reduction of VAT on basic foodstuffs,” he said. people “, said Nassos Iliopoulos.

Also speaking this morning on the radio station “Kokkino 105.5 FM” and referring to the new revelations of Kostas Vaxevanis about the Novartis case, he stressed: “all this is a critical step in the process of revealing all those who were involved in this scandal, it is evidence which show that there was blackmail of witnesses, that there was a whole system that did everything to cover up the case. ”

“Novartis has admitted that it has hired officials in Greece and for this reason, it has paid 347 million euros in compensation to the American state,” Nassos Iliopoulos underlined. “This clearly means that we are talking about a scandal,” he said, adding: “Anyone who does not accept this is on the side of concealment.” “The Greek state must therefore, on the one hand, claim compensation and, on the other hand, ask for all the necessary information to be given so that we can see who the officials who were paid are,” he noted.

“Yesterday’s announcement of ND on the subject is for laughter, it shows the panic of people who understand that their attempt to cover up the scandal is collapsing. Nothing can save them from the objective responsibilities they have in this attempt to cover up. “, concluded Nassos Iliopoulos.