The three-day debate on the motion of no confidence submitted by SYRIZA against the government ended with a fierce confrontation between Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Alexis Tsipras.
The ground for the confrontation between the Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition had been cleared by the wild incident between Adonis Georgiadis and Pavlos Polakis in the cafeteria of the Parliament, when the MP of SYRIZA verbally attacked the Minister of Development.
In his main statement, the Prime Minister described SYRIZA's motion of no-confidence as "awkward" and "dead-end", and assessed that the use of the strongest parliamentary weapon by the official opposition reveals the political, demographic and internal party deadlock of Mr.
"Tsipras sees SYRIZA's forces leafing out"
"You called me 'finished', Mr Tsipras."
"You called me 'finished', Mr Tsipras. You will fall for it like you did when you said there is not a chance in a million that I will win an election," he said. At the same time, he described the impeachment motion as a desperate attempt by Alexis Tsipras to keep SYRIZA's forces, which are "leafing out" to other political forces.
"Even when you insist on your demand for elections, you said nothing about an alternative proposal. What exactly are you asking for? Who should emerge and who should govern? The one who for 2.5 years after the election has not dared to hold a debriefing conference on the causes of his defeat?" he also commented, stressing that Tsipras is attempting to close internal party wounds. At the same time, he again made indirect remarks about the human losses in Mati and Mandra, saying that his own apology for what happened during the recent bad weather was not perceived by those who never apologized. Mitsotakis acknowledged shortcomings in coordination, but responded to SYRIZA's criticism, saying he was attacking the government for keeping Attiki Odos open, when last year, during "Medea", he blamed the government for closing it.
The head of government also acknowledged delays in the vaccination programme, but stressed that 84% of the country's adult citizens are now shielded. He also stressed that under ND the number of ICU beds doubled, from the 560 delivered by SYRIZA to more than 1,100 today.
The prime minister also referred to the performance of the Greek economy, saying that it is setting a 20-year record. He stressed that the country will close 2021 with growth of more than 7% and with one of the biggest drops in unemployment in Europe. He accused SYRIZA, as a government, of raising all personal and corporate taxes.
"Fifty thousand unemployed people found jobs through the OAED programs. The minimum wage increase is coming on May 1, 2022. ENFIA has already been reduced by 22%. The zero tax on parental benefits has relieved thousands of households. Our country is becoming home to international business giants. Microsoft must see something in our country for its investment and Cisco with its hundreds of highly skilled jobs," he also stressed.
Mitsotakis also referred to immigration, focusing both on the reduction of migrant flows ("it is at its lowest point in the last ten years," he said) and on the improvement of structures.
He also focused on the country's foreign policy and defence, stressing that "we are shielding our borders", making a special reference to the Rafale and criticising SYRIZA for not sending a single member to the ceremony to receive the French fighter jets.
Raising the tone, Mitsotakis attacked Alexis Tsipras, accusing him that his party was behind the marches for Dimitris Koufontina, while he did not vote in parliament on important bills in the interest of the country.
Furthermore, he accused Tsipras of being the only political leader who spoke today in Parliament about Menios Fourthiotis: "You devoted 1/3 of your speech to Mr. Fourthiotis. You took in your arms a suspect who made it big on your watch and was brought to justice on our watch. That's why you made the motion of no confidence, isn't it? For Mr Fourthiotis. He's so important in the political arena. No other leader of the opposition has made a single reference to Furthiotis. How much lower will you go? How much more desperate will you become?"
"Shame on you, Mr. Tsipras, for giving us lessons in justice when you set up the Novartis plot."
At the same time, he called on Mr. Tsipras to apologize to the ten political figures he implicated in the Novartis scandal, which he described as the most miserable scandal ever perpetrated by the Greek state.
"I don't have much to say about democracy with those who systematically targeted ten top political figures."
"I don't have much to say about democracy with those who systematically targeted ten top political figures."
"I don't have much to say about democracy with those who systematically targeted ten top political figures. Not for the biggest political scandal but for the most miserable Novartis plot that collapsed with a bang and its protagonists are in the hands of justice. One in the special court and others suspected not for their opinions but for publishing false evidence. This is not journalism but gangland is not called liberty printing but liberty murder. This is the underworld you are in bed with. Two former prime ministers. All the cases were initiated. When will you have the courage to apologise to them. I am now interrupting my speech so you can take the floor, Mr Tsipras, and apologise for hanging them on the pegs. And today you are sitting silently and smiling under the mask. Shame on you. And you preach to us about the rule of law."
The prime minister also criticized the KINAL, saying that it had fully aligned itself with SYRIZA's no-confidence motion. "You will not be able to stay on the sidelines for long, with ambiguity interviews" of your new leader, he said.
Alexis Tsipras. You believe your own propaganda," Tsipras said in his speech, accusing the government that "no TV station can report without turning off the microphones of passers-by. You have become addicted to lying and distorting the truth."
Tsipras personally attacked the prime minister, saying that "he is finished politically, but the worst thing is that he lives in his own parallel universe."
"Do you have a sense of reality? Or are you victims of this propaganda and first of all you, Mr. Mitsotakis, locked in a fishbowl of the flunkies of misfortune and the pollsters of joy. When the prime minister becomes a joke and an object of scorn then this politician is finished," he said. "Time for someone who means well to inform you about what is happening in Greek society. You are finished politically, Mr Mitsotakis, but the worst thing is that you are living in your own parallel universe."
"You are finished not only because you failed at a huge cost. All the critical things you managed : precision, pandemic, snowstorm failed but you continue the same violin of miserable communication. You believe that you are not a prime minister who has to be accountable but behave like a prince. You do not care if the people suffer. You are building your own regime with people's money. With golden boys and people of the night," he added."
"You told us that everyone else is to blame."
"You came yesterday once again and instead of apologizing for the unjust suffering of the people for promising them an executive state but you created an executive chaos where when there is a fire everything burns and everything is closed with snow you came to wag your finger at us. The tragedy at Mati is your shield. The Eye was a collective trauma, not a communication ploy. Who was really that adviser you put on the TV. Synolakis to give you your plan to evacuate Marathonos and Attiki Odos in 25 minutes. It was all buried in the snow. Where was that infamous 112? When people were left in the freezing cold. Where was it to send them a message to survive all those hours? Where was the state? Even the Army on Tuesday morning when they were operating for evacuation they were ordered to leave everything they were doing to go to exit 10 where the TV crews were gathered," he said."
"Of course, you told us that you apologized even though we all understood that you told us that everyone else was to blame. It was the snow that fell at noon when it usually falls at night. It's the fault of the National Weather Service for not informing you. It's the fault of the mayors and regional governors. The concessionaires and the train company. Everyone else," he said. "You are telling us to convince us that others are to blame and that you held critical meetings without taking minutes. The only one who took minutes in this government was Furthiotis. Nobody else took minutes. I forgot you gave us an apology and cleaned up. Since the apology was found, philanthropy has been lost," he continued.
Attack on the pandemic
Tsipras also referred to the pandemic, for the management of which he blamed the government, noting that it "owes thousands of apologies."
"You will not clean up so easily. I'm afraid an apology is not enough to clean up. You owe thousands of apologies. 23,000 to every family that lost their people in the pandemic unfairly. You're the ones who decided not to fund the NHS. At the same time your people were telling you to strengthen it and if you did half would have been saved. You unashamedly said you had no such study," he said."
"You owe an apology to every doctor and nurse staying up late in the agonising battle to save lives. You in your disgust for every public and social deprive them of weapons. You owe an apology to every family who fears tomorrow and sees their paycheck end in the middle of the month because you facilitated a capitation tax. You owe an apology to every Greek woman and Greek man because you played on their patriotism. You exploited their love for Greece and Macedonia to win a few votes. And you come and say that we are selling Macedonia for pensions
You owe 103 apologies to the families of those who perished in Mati. You personally made the lost lives your electoral stake. While you knew why and in how little time this tragedy took place."
He repeated his demand for elections
The president of SYRIZA repeated his demand for elections. "Can you really not understand that you cannot go on like this? Why don't you choose the redemption of the people's verdict? What is preventing you from resorting to elections? Why do you not hasten to prove the people's confidence in you? Behold the ballot box. Democracy is limited but not abolished by the pandemic."
"Why do the political forces enjoying a popular spring not seek elections while Syriza, which is supposedly in decline, calls for them? With what credibility will you continue to govern while the country has great difficulties ahead? With this complete discount of morality? You are producing more lies than the people can consume," he said in a sharply pointed tone.
"Object of derision the staff state"
He also strongly criticized the staff state, which he said is a personal creation of Mitsotakis and has become "an object of derision, a joke. What if you guys get to the summer? What preparations have you made? Where are the 500 forest guards you promised, the umbrella of protection you were going to build? The canaders you're buying? By now you should have done all that."
"It wasn't just the snow. In Crete the earthquake victims are watching us from containers freezing. In the floods your staff state was caught between statements and promises. Thousands of houses without electricity for days. You can't right the wrongs. You created a Department of Climate Change. Shell. You appointed technocrats to top positions advertising excellence and what's the result? Communication only. An extreme and dangerous personal narcissism that characterizes your every move. But how, I wonder, could we have an effective state when you are allergic to the state itself," he added.
"At the height of the energy crisis you rushed to privatise the PPC. After Novartis emerged profitable you decided to make the NHS Novartis too. You insist on the fairy tale of neoliberalism at a time when you are cancelling it everywhere in the world. You refuse to disrupt the orderly process of exploitation of the many by the few. That is our great and inexorable difference. You are with the interests of the few and against the state. We are with the interests of the many and we believe in the state."
"The Syriza government was a more honest and moral government."
"Our second difference is in the field of morality. The SYRIZA government was the most honest and ethical government that passed through the country," Tsipras said, with New Democracy MPs asking him if he was "putting Petsitis in."
"We took the country out of the memoranda that you led. You saddled us with guardianship and when we made the effort to get the country out of guardianship, you allied with the placemen. Gerun Gera, do you remember that? Today, when we got the country and the economy to safety, you came and set up a party worse than the one in the days of plenty."
In the same context, he accused the government of failure and opacity. You handed out millions to media without transparency. On the sole criterion of their degree of obedience to your orders. All this at the same time in the budget you cut 800 million euros from the NHS. Hour after hour you are ashamed of what you are doing.
The complete failure of the government that has led to social dramas and new tragedies is not only the result of the incompetence of the Prime Minister and his entourage. But also their invincible drive to nepotism and graft. Their desire to despise democracy and citizens."
Attack against the background of Fourthiotis
Tsipras left clear edges on the Fourthiotis case. "I am now coming downhill. Good evening, Mr. Gerapetritis. Good evening. It has to do with a star of Trash TV. I won't bother with you, Professor. Too bad for you and only too bad. Pity and shame because it's sad. It is sad that a minister, the right-hand man of a prime minister, is being blackmailed by a suspect. It is sad not only for the minister and the government but for democracy."
"I will put my questions to Mr Mitsotakis: Are you sure about who is running this country. Do you know who is in charge of this country? This is the first time in post-communist history that the night has penetrated the Maximos Mansion. Did you know that half the government was doing favors for an under arrest anchorman? How he acquired the custody of 12 policemen. That he had close relations with half the cabinet? That your right-hand man negotiated legislation? Were you aware of this or were you unaware of it?" he asked the Prime Minister as he continued: "Did you know that in the days he was exchanging calls and text messages he set up 13 shell companies with no activity? Without setting up in the declared headquarters to collect from the labour contract suspensions? You were briefed by Mr. Vrootsis. He knows it well and to his credit he tried to stop it and Furthiotis went into the ministry with goons. Then surprisingly enough, it was Vroutsis who left the ministry and not Fourthiotis from Maximou. Did you know all this or not?"
"If you ignore it, let me tell you what we know. Since December 2020, the General Directorate of EFKA has been sending the SDE-SSEPE an investigation order for a number of companies where Furthiotis' name appears. Of the 13 companies allegedly linked to Furthiotis, we know that 194 thousand euros were credited refundable and an additional 56 thousand euros were approved. We are talking about EUR 250 thousand in total. Money credited early March 2021 and transferred to justify a company loan."
Tsipras said that the investigation by the financial police has been completed and asked if it has been forwarded to the financial prosecutor's office, since when and why it is delayed, while he called on the Prime Minister to explain the inaction. "Were you aware of this, Mr Mitsotakis? Did you, Professor?" he said, calling on the prime minister and Mr. Gerapetritis to ask again if they were aware of the man and his checks."
who did you write this for? For the prosecutors, for Vrootsy for us he was targeting? I come back to Mr. Mistotakis because that is where the issue is. The questions, Mr Mostotakis, are obviously rhetorical. You know everything and you are covering it up. Otherwise you would have dismissed your right-hand man. So Furthiotis is not holding your right hand but you, Mr Mitsotakis," he said, asking why.
"The answer that a government that controls the Furthiotis channel cannot be believed. Find a serious explanation or the morass you are floating in will swallow you up and it is not a good political end. If you don't have a serious answer to all these questions one is your choice. Resign and call an election. Give the people a chance to judge you before it is too late for you and the country. You are on a slippery slope. Enough. Greece needs a breath of progress before you put it on the respirator. You need a government of honesty and progress," he said.
"You cannot escape the dilemma of elections."
In his epilogue, Tsipras reiterated the demand for elections, which he said the government cannot escape.
"Only with elections and a government led by SYRIZA will the feeling of security be restored."
"Only with elections and a government led by SYRIZA will the feeling of security be restored."
"Only with elections and a government led by SYRIZA will the feeling of security be restored."
"Only with elections and a government led by SYRIZA will the feeling of security be restored. Will the economy restart by writing off the debts of the pandemic in the first place . Only with elections, ladies and gentlemen of the progressive wing will the labour market be liberated? Only with elections will the basic wage be raised immediately, now that precision is at its highest, to 800 euros. Only with elections will the NHS be strengthened with thousands of recruits. Only through elections will the Recovery Fund be distributed fairly. Only through elections will corruption be replaced by justice that will return to the country," he said, defending his demand.
"That is why we tabled the motion of no confidence. And I think it is an important step not because I doubt what at the end of the day the South West's CO will do, which today with all the revelations my heart is breaking to see you. Only your faces. In the next election at least half of you will not be in this room. Our initiative will continue because the country does not deserve decadence. It is urgent that society and democracy breathe again. In this struggle to rid ourselves of the Mitsotakis regime, we call on all progressive forces and every democrat to stand by our side. We can and we will succeed," he concluded.
Source: protothema.gr
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