President of SYRIZA-PS, Alexis Tsiprasin the run-up to the May 21 elections, organized a multi-channel press conference at Zappeio Megaro.

“The Greek people have memory and experience, they know who put us in the memorandums” and “they know who was the government that managed to cope with the difficulties, take the country out of the memorandums, pay off the debt, go into public funds of 37 billion euros,” – Alexis Tsipras answered the question about the economic program of SYRIZA.

“I am fully aware of the country’s fiscal potential,” Mr. Tsipras emphasized regarding the cost of the SYRIZA program. “I find it a shame that they circulated a private document and said it was a document from the State Chief Accounting Office,” he added, pointing to the “different footprint” of the SI program compared to SYRIZA. “We seek to dismantle the mechanism of speculation and super profits“.

Watch the cross-channel press conference of Alexis Tsipras:

Next, he stood excise tax reduction calculation, accusing the prime minister of deliberate misinformation. “The annual cost of the SYRIZA program is about 5.5 billion euros, almost half the fiscal value of subsidies for electricity speculation in 2022 alone,” Mr. Tsipras explained, reiterating the position on taxing excess energy profits. , oil refining and gas trading companies. “We also have a ready act of the TPP, which contains three articles. The first concerns the suspension of the first home auctions – with zero fiscal value, the second concerns the abolition of the minimum import base – with zero fiscal cost, and the third concerns the reduction of excise duty and VAT on food, the fiscal cost of which is 1.4 billion euros. The Greek people should judge and compare,” he said.

For possible cooperation after the elections The President of SYRIZA replied that “the first and third parties will be able to form a government“. In his assessment, if the first party is New Democracy, “Mr. Mitsotakis will seek to form a government, he will not risk a re-election, and if he does not succeed, we will go to a re-election.” In case SYRIZA is the first party, “we will go to the government, we will not go to a repeat election”, he clarified. “I do not expect or see a government based on the tolerance of one party. We want to have a government of stability and longevity.”

“Mr. Varoufakis has excluded himself from the invitation to progressive cooperation”

Regarding Janis Varoufakis, he claimed that the former finance minister “voluntarily declined the invitation“. “If Mr. Varoufakis did not exist, Mr. Mitsotakis would have to invent him. In this election campaign, he was his alter ego,” Mr. Tsipras said, characterizing “nonsense about Dimitras” and accused Mr. Varoufakis of his “obsession” to “return this thing before the election as he made a very big gift to Mr. Mitsotakis”“. He added, “I don’t know if they agreed or if it was a useful suggestion from Mr. Varoufakis to Mr. Mitsotakis.” According to the President of SYRIZA, “the government of progressive cooperation will be aimed at restoring the economy, supporting society, restoring democracy in power and, above all, restoring justice in our country everywhere and for everyone.”

In relation to her voice The new generation and the youth temperance problem Mr Tsipras noted that “four years have passed since the Mitsotakis government targeted young people (…) Four years have passed in which they have experienced first hand what it means to pursue a hostile policy towards youth,” said he returned with harsh criticism. attitude towards the creation of the VBE by the government of the New Republic.

“Participation will send polls to the ‘trash'”

“Four years have passed, during which the legal framework has been introduced into labor, which is a “jungle” and a “medieval” framework,” Mr. Tsipras added, and ended by saying that “young people have many reasons to go to the polls.” “In all measurements that show ND in the first place, SYRIZA is ahead in the age group of 17-24 years, therefore, if young people go to the polls, then, naturally, the result will be different,” he assessed and called on young people to “go to the polls” to “send the poll predictions to the bucket.”

“It is absolutely logical that prices will fall with the reduction of VAT,” Alexis Tsipras assessed elsewhere in the press conference, stating “significant control in the market so that this reduction goes into the “pockets” of consumers.”

Regarding the events in Albania, he claimed that during his prime minister he did not accept the official visits of Edi Rama to Athens and himself to Tirana. “I didn’t do this because I put him as a condition of the rights of the Greek ethnic minority in Albania,” he added, and accused Mr. Mitsotakis of the fact that in this matter “he was only interested in communication, that is, receiving with Greek flags, to compare historically with his father’s visit “and what the prime minister followed”private foreign policy“.

“Preliminary investigation on the fact of wiretapping”

After that, Alexis Tsipras was asked about the case. wiretapping. Initially, President SYRIZA spoke of “one of the biggest and perhaps the biggest scandal of the post-revolutionary period.” “We are no longer talking about speculation, but a proven violation of the confidentiality of messages,” he added, citing the PEGA report and claiming that it proves “the absolute connection of Predator with EYP, which was under the responsibility of the Prime Minister.” He accused Kyriakos Mitsotakis of “ covering up the scandal” and claimed that in the debate (the prime minister) “confessed” to the scandal, but also to the absence of a national reason for surveillance, “so there was and cannot be a reference to state secrets.” He again raised the issue of “Where is the surveillance data” because “whoever has these thousands of GB in their hands has the ability to blackmail the political and business system for the next decade and is capable of harming our national problems,” he said pointedly. “If SYRIZA is the first batch, one of the first steps will be to move towards purification,” he explained, emphasizing that “we should go for a preliminary investigation“. “Politicians involved must be held accountable (…) On the basis of what is provided for by the Constitution, we will proceed to the creation of an investigative commission in Parliament,” said Alexis Tsipras.

“Surveillance was conducted from the neighboring office of Mr. Mitsotakis,” Alexis Tsipras replied to another question about wiretapping. Although he claimed that when asked “where are the facts”, he replied that “only Mr. Mitsotakis has the answer”. Asked if the political system was already trapped in the problem of eavesdropping, he replied by wondering: “If you knew that someone knew everything about you (…), I think you would feel Very good?”.

“I have a lot of trust in most court officials, I don’t have some judges who have proven they are doing everything they can to make sure I don’t trust them,” he commented elsewhere in the press conference.

He said that judges should be supported to do their job and he will start a very big discussion with all the departments involved and about the necessary institutional reforms so that justice can breathe. In any case, he emphasized that “we are not going to take revenge, we are going to carry out institutional reforms in order to give justice the opportunity to restore its prestige and authority in Greek society.”

“Open up to new faces”

Answering the last question about his intention to discuss the next day new speeches or even new faces proposed by potential partners of the government, Al. Tsipras declared himself “open,” emphasizing that the 11-article program was the basis for discussion and that he did not put inviolable conditions. He even remarked that he did not hear any disagreement on these proposals and that “there is deliberately no political discussion about them” because “a concurrence of opinions will be seen.”

In terms of individuals, he noted that the society “expects positive surprises” and that he is open to new people with experience and abilities who will be excellent, but “use their skills to serve the public interest” and give new life within the coalition. government. Finally, he pointed to the SYRIZA cross-section, 50% of all ballots include women, predicting that citizens’ choice would also have a “feminine scent”.