Parliament-budget: The evolution of the pandemic and accuracy at the heart of the debate

The management and the worrying development of the pandemic, the budget forecasts for the transition from normal to higher growth rates, the inflationary pressures especially in the lower incomes, the tax burdens, are issues that are at the center of the positions of the deputies go to the plenary stage in the context of the 2022 budget debate.

Chr. Boukoros (SW): Total recovery

ND MP Christos Boukoros said that with the efforts of the government, the Greek economy is attempting a total recovery with a weapon the credibility that the Greek economy has gained, credibility that allows the country to borrow at very low interest rates, credibility that allows the country to submits proposals to the EU and have them accepted. “It is the credibility that allows the country to build economic and defense agreements with all the countries of the wider region, strengthening its position on the international chessboard,” said Mr. Bukoros, adding that the growth that comes from investments, and which are projected to increase by 23.4% in 2022, they must give better paid positions and that is why it is the Prime Minister himself who has committed to a double salary increase in 2022.

V. Economou (SW): We are moving forward with a plan

ND MP Vassilis Oikonomou, who opened today the third session on the budget, accused the official opposition of hysterical cries, while with the SYRIZA government, as he said, the 70 and 80 waiting of the injured for ICU was a daily phenomenon. He even referred to the results of the polls to emphasize that SYRIZA lags behind the percentages of ND because the citizens understand that the official opposition has no plan, unlike the government that has all the guarantees to ensure the country’s progress with a plan, with a social justice and with a patriotic mindset.

K. Notopoulou (SYRIZA): In a circle of social despair

SYRIZA MP Katerina Notopoulou said that the government has put her in a circle of social despair and that she is moving with apathy to the problems of society and while the situation is deteriorating on the front of the pandemic, and on the front of accuracy. He accused the government of continuing to mock workers in the tourism and food sectors and denounced the tourism ministry’s inability to support tourism and entrepreneurship. The MP made special reference to the situation in Thessaloniki, noting that 42% of the deaths come from Northern Greece and Thessaloniki, which is affected by the government’s ideological abandonment.

V. Vassiliadis (SW): Improving the investment environment

ND MP Vassilis Vassiliadis said that today, although there is still a road ahead of us with the pandemic, we can talk about positive growth rates and a return to normalcy. The MP emphasized the measures to support entrepreneurship, production and the agricultural sector and the significant investments, over 25% of GDP, in health, in the last two years. At the same time, he noted, Greece had the best performance among EU member states in reducing unemployment. As for the revenues, Mr. Vassiliadis stressed that they will come from the restart of the economy and the improvement of the investment environment and not from the tax increase.

A. Panas (KINAL): The stamina is exhausted

Change Movement MP Apostolos Panas said that the evolution of the pandemic showed not only the inability of the government to manage the pandemic but also in other areas the government proved weak, such as dealing with and managing disasters in areas such as Halkidiki. The MP questioned the forecasts for a return to normalcy, noting that the view of the budget is focused on the past, in 2019, ie “when Greece held the highest position in taxation compared to other EU countries”. Referring to the agricultural sector, he said that the government failed to present a national development strategic plan, at the same time that the resilience of the rural world has been exhausted.

G. Papailiou (SYRIZA): The strategic plan was deposited in the markets

SYRIZA MP George Papailiou spoke of a double pandemic, that is, the health and economic crisis, and pointed out that the improved growth rate is linked to support measures and the opening of the economy after the prolonged lock down. The growth the government is talking about, he said, concerns the big players, the few who support it at the expense of the many, at the same time as austerity and the burden on households continue. The SYRIZA MP underlined that his party has already submitted a proposal for the reduction of the VAT and the increase of the minimum wage, in order to face the consequences of the energy crisis, the increase of inflation. He accused the government of not strengthening critical sectors of the welfare state, of not having a long-term strategy, which it has laid out in the markets, and that while the working environment has become worse, the agricultural sector has exhausted resilience, self-government is not supported.

L. Kanelli (KKE): Budget completely set in favor of the few

KKE MP Liana Kanelli said that “as long as the system remains capitalist, it is completely set up in favor of the few”. “We have constant legislative interventions, based on events that monopolize the interest of the media and at the same time there are events that do not meet the same visibility. There is no green growth for the two children who were burned in a neighborhood in a dense urban fabric. “There is a green death. All investments in green development are not aimed at supporting households,” said the KKE MP, who referred to the poverty spectrum, the lack of ICUs to be supported by the necessary staff. “Can the people wait? No, they will not be on the streets, and today and in the coming days, they will be here, they will be in the squares to protest. of the KKE.

K. Barkas (SYRIZA): Mr. Mitsotakis owes an apology

SYRIZA MP Konstantinos Barkas referred to the shortcomings of the NSS, the intubated patients and deaths, outside the ICU, and accused the government and the Prime Minister of lying to the Parliament and concealing the study of Messrs. Tsiodra-Lytra on mortality in intubated patients outside the ICU and the need to support intensive care units. “I hope that on Saturday, Mr. Mitsotakis, who will come here to Parliament, will apologize. You owe it to the nineteen and a half thousand dead, to the health workers who are fighting,” said Mr. Barkas. The MP criticized the government for the abolition of the 13th pension and complained that the provision of the social dividend was abolished, to emphasize that this budget does not concern the social majority.

Source: AMPE