N. Iliopoulos: ‘The government coordinates the looting against the citizens’

“The government, with its policy, continues to cover the profiteering in energy”, stressed the spokesperson of SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance, Nassos Iliopoulos, speaking on the television station “TRT” of Thessaly.

“Currently on average, in the last eight months, the increase in the price of electricity for the consumer in the EU is at 20% to 30%, while in Greece it is at 80%. Greece is the country that 99% of the increases in “Wholesale passes to the consumer, while the second country is Austria with only 46%”, underlined Nassos Iliopoulos and added: “It is obvious that here we are dealing with looting, a looting against the citizens and this looting is coordinated by the government Mitsotaki “.

“First – continued Mr. Iliopoulos – with the privatization of PPC, as it was given a critical public tool that, while it should play a regulatory role in the market, is now only interested in the stock market price, leaving consumers and Second, with the violent and unplanned de-lignification, which deepened the country’s dependence on Russian gas, which is in fact fossil fuel, and third, with the adjustment clause implemented by the government. “When he was Minister of Energy, he had stated that the government would proceed with the liberalization of the energy market, that he was not afraid of reactions and that consumers would not see increases. This statement by Hatzidakis is, in fact, a confession of guilt.”

“At the same time, there are measures in the Commission’s toolbox, such as the reduction of the excise duty on fuel, or the introduction of a ceiling on the wholesale or retail price of electricity, something that France, for example, has implemented. “Mitsotaki government refuses to implement, because in fact it covers the notoriety”, said Nassos Iliopoulos.

Regarding the profits of energy companies, he stressed: “We first ask to see the conclusion of RAE, the Independent Authority itself claims that it used the methodology suggested by the Ministry of Energy, knowing that it is not appropriate.” “The finding speaks of a half-year profit of 900 million euros, from which, however, are excluded the profits from natural gas. ‘ eight months, counting the profits from natural gas “, explained Nassos Iliopoulos.

“Obviously these super-profits have to be taxed,” he continued, “something that a number of European countries, such as France, Spain and Germany, have already done.” “But we have to cancel this mechanism for producing super profits and the way to cancel this mechanism is to introduce a ceiling,” he stressed.

Asked about Sunday’s election process in SYRIZA-PS, he noted: “We chose to open our internal party process in society. And that was a win-win. The fact that we managed to have a party, which in 2015 had 30,000 members, has today 172,000 members and on Sunday alone, to register 110,000 new members who participated in the elections, makes us very optimistic “, pointed out Nassos Iliopoulos. “From now on, it is up to us, with a specific, programmatic reason, to show that things in the country can go differently: by dealing with the accuracy, by settling the pandemic debt, by bravely cutting a part of it, by the increase of the minimum wage and the securing of the collective agreements “, he added.

Finally, regarding Mitsotakis ‘visit to the United States, he commented: “From Mr. Mitsotakis’ side, we have a foreign policy that does not face a Turkey, which is constantly escalating its aggression.” “Mr. Mitsotakis, neither the sanctions have managed to move forward, nor the attitude of the predictable ally in the US, has managed to give a signal of limiting Turkish aggression. We are talking about a visit to which the US did not mention the condemnation. “of the Turkish provocation and the revisionist policy pursued by Erdogan in the Eastern Mediterranean”, concluded Nassos Iliopoulos.

Source: AMPE