New government gets vote of confidence after three-day debate on policy statements
File Photo: Ο πρωθυπουργός Κυριάκος Μητσοτάκης (Δ), χειροκροτείται από τους βουλευτές της ΝΔ και τους υπουργούς μετά την ομιλία του στην ολομέλεια της Βουλής, στη συζήτηση των προγραμματικών δηλώσεων της κυβέρνησης. ΑΠΕ ΜΠΕ, ΓΡΑΦΕΙΟ ΤΥΠΟΥ ΠΡΩΘΥΠΟΥΡΓΟΥ, ΔΗΜΗΤΡΗΣ ΠΑΠΑΜΗΤΣΟΣ
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
The government of New Democracy (ND) won a vote of confidence with 158 votes, in a 300-strong chamber, following a three-day debate in plenary over its policy platform, on Monday night.
In statements exiting parliament, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the hard work begins immediately.
“We start the hard work as of tomorrow. We will honor the confidence of the Greek people in us and we will work every day with a main focus, making the lives of Greek men and women better,” Mitsotakis said.
Tsipras in parliament: New Democracy embraced both nationalism and populism
Main opposition party SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras mocked the Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ assertions on CNN that the far Right and populism have been defeated, speaking in parliament on Monday evening during the debate closing on the government’s policy platform.
Tsipras said that as far as the extreme Right is concerned, “I will take it as a bad joke, since there are several former members of Orthodox Alert (former nationalist party) sitting among you today,” and speaking on populism, he said that “every time we gave critical battles abroad or completed a creditors’ review, you said we would fail.”
“For four years you called us liars,” added Tsipras, “purposely overlooking the fact we were the only government during the bailout memoranda to open itself to the judgment of the Greek people, in September 2015, with a (loan0 agreement on – not under – the table.”
The former PM also accused the New Democracy (ND) leader of using the tragic fire of Mati for political purposes, “yet had no problem later on taking on board the chief of police who handled the tragedy, for your government.”
The worst part of all, “you embraced nationalist-populist talk, and became so-called Macedonian warriors, adopting viewpoints you obviously did not believe,” Tsiras noted in reference to ND’s continuing support to the Prespes Agreement, despite its pre-electoral reactions against it.
“You did not win any battle against populism,” Tsipras concluded, “you encouraged it and made it you moving force in order to become political dominant.”
KINAL leader Genimmata: Investments as important as tax relief
Movement For Change (KINAL) party leader Fofi Gennimata on Monday said “Greece needs a specific plan, of Greek identity and ownership (…) to benefit the great majority of Greeks,” during the parliamentary debate on the New Democracy’s policy statements, which she called “deeply conservative, with a touch of populist Right.”
“Do you really have any proposal to boost public investment, infrastructure, export business and production,” said Gennimata, “or are you just waiting for a miracle?” noted KINAL’s leader.
She then said that the goverment is moving ahead with tax reliefs without any convincing plan as to how they will trigger growth, and also stressed how ESM’s president Klaus Regling recently warned that for fiscal flexibility to have a positive effect on growth, it needs to channel the extra budgetary capital into investments, not just use it towards tax relief.
Addressing Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Gennimata asked “how will you avoid a fiasco similar to that in 2006, when New Democracy cut down corporate tax in 2006 and reduced property taxes, but growth did not come – instead companies’ revenues went up, incomes went down, and national economy took a downward spiral,” underlined KINAL’s leader.
KKE’s Koutsoumbas: ND will maintain and expand SYRIZA’s antipopular policies
Communist Party of Greece (KKE) Secretary General Dimitris Koutsoumbas accused New Democracy (ND) of taking over the antipopular measures and decisions of SYRIZA and accelerating their implementation, during the closing remarks on Monday of a three-day debate in parliament on the government’s policy platform.
“The change in government will not signal a substantial change in policy, but a simple change in power between Syriza and ND,” Koutsoumbas said. Even the phrase ND ministers use about “building on the positive measures of the previous government” shows this, he said.
As an example, he said that KKE had tabled a bill to retract a resolution abolishing the right to strike, “and all of you, ND and Syriza, rejected it.”
The Communist Party, he added, will continue to demand public and full obligatory social insurance for all.
He pointed out as positive the fact extreme-right Golden Dawn did not gain enough votes to return to parliament, but warned that “this must not lead to understimating fascism” as a percentage of such voters moves to other urban parties or similar far-right parties.
Velopoulos calls for parliamentary review of Prespes Agreement
The greatest issue Greece faces is the demographic issue, Greek Solution leader Kyriakos Velopoulos said on Monday night in parliament during the closing remarks of a three-day debate on the government’s policy platform.
“Greece is dying, Greeks are dying. There are no Greeks being born. We don’t support the Greek family any more. If there is no plan to support it, then we can copy European models,” Velopoulos said. Without enough population “there is no insurance system, no insurance contributions.”
In addition, he condemned “the hasty resolution of the Skopje issue” which he said the previous government of SYRIZA rushed to sign. The Prespes Agreement should be examined by parliament, he noted, accusing the ruling New Democracy of not keeping its word and abolishing it.
Among other things he called for the abolition of NGOs, life sentences for human traffickers, drug lords and paederasts, and a stop to bonuses “given to illegal migrants.” Afghanis and Pakistanis “cannot be considered refugees,” he said.
Referring to the Hellinikon project and plans to build a casino there, he said “investing does not mean creating casinos. Investing means supporting the Greek businessman who loves Greece.”
MeRA25 will not give vote of confidence to gov’t, Varoufakis says
MeRA25 will vote against the government’s policy platform, its leader Yanis Varoufakis said on Monday, during the last of a three-day debate in parliament.
Varoufakis claimed the government will clash with the Greek people, because of the combination of the government’s failed fiscal policy and the widening class war, which will lead to a greater brain drain. He also rejected hopes that the primary surplus target could be negotiated to drop to 1.5-1.6 pct.
“To meet this target, the clear investments must increase at a much higher rate than the current-accounts deficit, something that has never been done,” he said.
The new government, he said, will not bring the country back to normalcy, but will open a new chapter in debt.
Source: ANA-MPA
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