St. Petsas: Budget of a solid bridge for the transition of the country to normalcy

“The 2022 budget is the anchor of security, stability, social cohesion. It is a budget of trust that is a solid bridge to the country’s transition to normalcy. The government’s reform plan makes the lives of Greeks better.”

This was emphasized by the Deputy Minister of Interior, responsible for the issues of Local Self-Government, Stelios Petsas, during the discussion of the new state budget in the plenary session of the parliament.

“Greece managed despite the problems with the pandemic, with the initiatives it took because it restored the trust of the country and society and this is reflected in the great investment interest that exists,” said Mr. Petsas.

At the same time, he claimed that Greece has the third largest European support package and the fourth largest in the world, amounting to 43.3 billion.

He emphasized the actions and initiatives of the government for the strengthening of the Local Self-Government, saying characteristically:

“We are building relationships of trust with the local government. We are solving the pending issues of the past, we are planning for the future, we are strengthening it financially to make the big leap towards the future. For us, the goal is developmental and social. “Municipalities with the respective resources. We will continue in the next period with a multilevel and methodical financial support, building a solid relationship of trust with the Local Government”.

At this point he attacked SYRIZA, stressing that “contrary to what he did when he ruled the country, the ND government removes the distortions of the past so that we have a better map with the resources of the Local Government”.

He noted that to address the problems of the pandemic and climate change, “273 million euros were allocated to local government to overcome this unprecedented situation.”

“With a sense of responsibility, we are allocating the available resources so that the citizens’ dreams for a better future can be realized,” the Deputy Minister of Interior pointed out and added:

“We will strengthen the funding of local authorities, using and utilizing all the financial tools from the NSRF, the Antonis Tritsis program and the Recovery Fund. All our actions lead to the change of page of the Local Government. The resources are unprecedented and our bet is to “absorb them properly and mobilize them properly. And there is nothing worse than obscuring and talking about underfunding of the Local Government”.

Skin-Skourleti confrontation for ICU

Mr. Petsas’s reaction to SYRIZA’s accusations was strong, that the government did not proceed from the beginning of the pandemic to order private ICUs, with the result that the situation today is tragic with thousands of dead.

“We are doing everything we can to support the NSS and strengthen the ICUs, which the ND government has more than doubled to meet the emergencies created by the ongoing pandemic. If we accepted SYRIZA’s request, we will “We needed to give more than 120 million euros to the clinicians. If we had listened to them we would have thrown away 120 million euros,” he said, accusing the official opposition of partisan politics.

“You claim that the ICUs have more than doubled. To see how many were intubated outside the ICU yesterday and today. Mr. Tsiodras answered for all this. Why does the prime minister lie that it is the same if someone is inside or outside the ICU and instead of answering he is hiding?” For his part, the parliamentary representative of SYRIZA, Panos Skourletis, objected.

Mr. Skourletis also attributed to the government, “communication excellence in dealing with the pandemic”, while he claimed that “the Local Government is set aside and everything is handed over to the executive state of Maximos”.

“On the issue of ICUs, the government spokesman gave all the answers today, so as not to say that we are hiding,” Mr. Petsas replied.

SOURCE: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ