The draft budget expenditure of the Parliament for 2022 was accepted by a majority

The draft budget of the Parliament for 2022 was accepted by a majority. ND, SYRIZA, the Movement for Change and the Hellenic Solution voted in favor, the KKE and MERA25 were present.

“The Parliament dealt with this attack exemplary (in the health crisis) and today, with the 2022 budget, it claims its functional and organizational autonomy, in order to fulfill its debt to the Greek people, to its history, to its prospects. of our country “, said the Speaker of the Parliament, Costas Tassoulas, for the budget of the Parliament, which amounts to 144,200,000 euros. Mr. Tassoulas pointed out the contribution of the Parliament, from 2011 onwards, in the reduction of state expenditures. “After the severe economic crisis that hit our country, the Parliament adjusted and reduced its budget to 60% of the funds it managed before the crisis. The last budgets of the Parliament, in the era of prosperity, with whatever aggressive definition it deserves -but obviously the fake one is not unfair- the budget had reached 220 million euros and now we are moving to budgets of 142, 143, 144, 139 million euros, in recent years, which means that the savings of resources, led Parliament to use about 62% to 63% of the funds it used before the crisis, nevertheless, its operation, its goals, its performance continue in a prosperous way and we believe that all our activities will continue effortlessly, and in terms of its internal operation and in terms of its extroversion “, said the Speaker of the Parliament who underlined that” in the storm of the pandemic period, the Parliament continues the its historical and political mission “and added that the cultural and social work of the Parliament will continue in 2022, which” proved, with its offer to the NSS “while the crown of the cultural work, which is the exhibition for the 200 years from in 1821, it will be maintained the following year in order, especially the schools, to visit it.

Mr. Tassoulas referred to the program of “public works and supplies of the Parliament” funded by both the NSRF and the Green Fund, noting that at this stage, the work of energy upgrading of the building of the Parliament is evolving, with the aim of reducing at least 40% of the energy footprint. In the context of this energy upgrade of the Palace of Parliament, the replacement of the external lighting is being auctioned, which, in addition to the savings, will also have an aesthetic imprint. At the same time, the air conditioning systems in the areas of the Parliament Hall are being replaced, while other interventions with modern lighting are being prepared in the other buildings that the Parliament has. It is a matter of time before the contract for the building on Filellinon Street is assigned in order to “utilize an important building, which the painted decoration alone turned into a monument,” said the Speaker of the Parliament, who informed the Plenary that a contract will be signed in the coming days for the Benakeio Library building, which will be renovated to reuse and relocate the volumes located at the Tobacco Factory on Lenorman Street, “so that an important service for the study of history can be housed in this great building, which will be a further contribution of the Parliament, in highlighting the aesthetic imprint of the old buildings of the capital “. The Parliament is also ready to proceed with a study for the utilization of the “ocean liner”, the building of the Tobacco Factory, which currently houses an exhibition of contemporary art, in collaboration with NEON. “We should calm down, through this study, for its use, especially because a large part of it will be released, by moving the libraries to the Benakeio Library building”, said the Speaker of the Parliament and added that the procedures for the contracting of the project for the digitization of the Library items.

The general rapporteur of ND, Vassilis Ypsilantis, thanked the Speaker of Parliament for the work carried out by the Greek Parliament, a work which is not limited to parliamentary work, but leaves a deep imprint on culture and Hellenism in general, has a social sign, despite the horizontal spending cuts made during the crisis years. Mr. Ypsilantis explained that the increase of the budget of 2022, by 1.19%, is mainly due to the normal salary maturity of the staff of the Parliament and mainly to the increase of the cost of the regular control of the statements of assets by the certified accountants, due to widening the number of controlled persons.

The general rapporteur of SYRIZA, Tryfon Alexiadis, who stated that his party is voting for the budget of the Parliament, used today’s debate in order to complain that an institutional diversion took place against a member of the Greek Parliament, against the deputy Pavlos Polaklis, interfered in the operation of Parliament, violated the Constitution, deafeningly outlawed it. Mr. Alexiadis said that the Parliament should request a disciplinary audit for reasons of protection of democracy and the Constitution. In relation to the budget of the Parliament, the SYRIZA MP pointed out that his plan must be published on the website of the Parliament and that the meeting of the committee that discusses it must be public before it is introduced in the plenary session.

The special spokesman of the Movement for Change, Christos Gokas, said that it is the responsibility of all political forces to isolate voices and practices that undermine and insult the prestige and lead to the discrediting of the state institutions of the Parliament, affecting the Republic itself and thanked K on behalf of Change, the services and the employees of the Parliament for the methodical and complete preparation of the draft budgets, but also its proper execution, as well as the entire staff of the Parliament. “Of course, we must recognize the special contribution of the President of the Greek Parliament, Mr. Tassoulas, to this result,” said Mr. Gokas.

“The Communist Party of Greece is voting ‘present’ in both the 2022 budget and the 2020 report. It is a political vote, clarifying for the 2020 report that our position is not related to the way the economic figures were reflected. is not related to the way the funds are managed “, said the special spokesman of the KKE Nikos Karathanassopoulos, who pointed out that the KKE, not only during the period of the memoranda but also before them, voted against and demanded the abolition of the parliamentary privileges and that is why KKE MPs are paid the minimum wage and the parliamentary allowance is transferred in full to the party funds, for the political activity of the KKE.

“We must note that the management of the pandemic by the Parliament is exemplary, in stark contrast to the government that failed miserably, just like in the economy and society,” said Vassilis Viliardos, the special spokesman for the Greek Solution, who also praised the social work of the Parliament, “like the fifty ICUs that it built in just two months, something strange for the public, the help to Mati and so many others, which it provides, saving money from its operating costs”. However, the MP stressed that his party is particularly annoyed by the “disrespect” of the rights of the minority, since neither of the two requests submitted by the Hellenic Solution for the establishment of a committee of inquiry, for the Prespa agreement and the management of the murder fire in Mati, were not forwarded for discussion in plenary.

“We believe that the spending philosophy does not serve to the extent that it should openness, meritocracy and respect for the minority parliamentary groups and for this we will vote” present “, said the special speaker of MERA25 Maria Apatzidis, who clarified that the Her party does not accept logics “that the Parliament costs and does not need”, which are logics that serve the purpose of eroding Parliament in the consciences of citizens.

“Apart from the exemplary operation, the adaptability which was demonstrated without depriving anything of representativeness and parliamentarism, the modernity shown by the Parliament in terms of the green, the energy transition and the upgrade of the Megaron for saving energy and “of course, the environmentally friendly compliance”, pointed out the parliamentary representative of ND, Fotini Arabatzi, who underlined the cultural and social offer of the Parliament to cover the needs created by the pandemic. He also stressed that “transparency, adaptability, good administration, strong extroversion, special social and environmental sensitivity are the characteristics that condense the debate around the approval of the Parliament’s budget.”

“We are talking about the budget of the Parliament that had to be adapted to the conditions of the time, under difficult conditions several years ago, when unfortunately the Church of the Republic was targeted”, pointed out the parliamentary representative of the Movement for Change Michalis Katrinis and added: the discussion of the budget and the report of the Parliament today, gives us a first class opportunity to see where we can converge and agree, to pass this message to the Greek society, so that the Parliament is not the object of easy and effortless criticism and unjust too many times, so that by setting an example we can pass on to the younger generations in particular the need for respect and appreciation for the value of parliamentarism. ”

SOURCE: AMPE