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Hello we are at protagon.gr
for a nominees’ debate with Google hangout.
I am George Karelias
and I will discuss with two nominees of the first electoral district of Athens.
Mr Kostas Skandalidis
from PASOK
and Mr Notis Mitarakis from ND.
Hello.
Mr Skandalidis I will start from you.
What is the first thing citizens
from your electoral district tell you when you meet them.
Both those who vote for you and not.
Whether there is hope for this country to see a better future.
And if we can guarantee
that the country will get out of the crisis within a defined timeframe.
Is there a hope?
There is obviously hope.
Or else there would be no point in dealing with politics.
There is hope thanks to a force of national responsibility
that can give answers to our problems
and guarantee for the future of this country.
And I believe that this force is PASOK.
Mr Mitarakis, this is your first time in an electoral procedure.
What is the first thing people say to you
when you approach them asking for their vote?
They ask for new faces,
persons that have worked a lot and can bring solutions the next day.
What is their greatest problem?
Unemployment.
The shops are closing down and everybody live
with the fear that they won’t have a job to take care of their families.
And this is the biggest problem we need to face.
What do you tell them?
That after the elections unemployment will increase or decrease?
If we stick to the same policy,
it will increase.
If we try to use the capabilities of the greeks and this country,
through hard work, we will succeed.
Mr Skandalidis,
will you accept the position of a minister in a government
with Samaras as a prime minister?
As long as there is no majority government.
I believe that Mr Samaras,
having in mind his decisions and his positions of the last years,
cannot guarantee in any way the future of Greece.
So in such a case,
we have to search for a prime minister of common confidence.
But if ND is the winning party,
isn’t he entitled to the position of the prime minister?
PASOK used to be the majority party as well
but when they formed a common government,
Samaras said no to Papandreou becoming the prime minister.
Mr Mitarakis,
if Venizelos forms a government and asks you to become a minister,
what will you say?
Mr Venizelos cannot guarantee a change of policy.
He has been the minister of finance
for the last 10 months.
He has already been judged for his actions.
Mr Skandalidis,
I have heard you say that you would prefer a progressive government.
But if nobody from the progressive political left wants to cooperate,
according to their sayings, what is the solution?
A progressive government will be based on the european friendly
forces that will enter the parliament.
We will suggest cooperation only to these forces.
We don’t doubt that.
The basis of the programme must be a progressive one.
We will make the necessary suggestions,
but then it’s up to each party separately to decide
whether they will choose a policy of denial
or one of co-responsibility for the progress of the country.
Mr. Mitarakis, since Samaras
doesn’t wish to cooperate with PASOK
in order to form a government,
the only solution
is to have a cooperative government among the right parties of the country.
I mean ND cooperating with Kammenos,
Bakoyanni,
Karatzaferis,
Manos or any of these that will make it to the parliament.
Do you agree?
Right now we don’t think
that there are any forces with which we could cooperate.
Of course,
words have lost their meaning.
Mr Skandalidis has talked about progressive forces.
But what do you consider as progressive?
Two years of taxes’ increase?
Two years of horizontal reductions?
Two years of unemployment reaching 22%?
Maybe we should review the meaning of words.
If the two great parties fail in forming a government,
what will you do?
Will you ask again Papadimos
or someone else to take over the position of the prime minister?
Mr Skandalidis?
I think I was clear enough.
We want by any means,
after the elections,
to have a government.
PASOK believes that it can be the winning party on Sunday
and thus take the initiative for the developments.
We will be open to review a list of notable personalities
that can lead a cooperative government.
So as that the country will avoid a period
of anarchy that can prove destructive.
I believe that a cooperative government,
as proven these last months,
will achieve very few things in a period that we need to achieve a lot.
In periods which demand great changes,
cooperative governments are not dynamic enough.
Greek history has proved that in the past.
And now as well.
I heard Samaras saying that a ND government
will reduce the taxes and the insurance allowances.
It will recover the low pensions,
especially the pensions of military and police officers.
All these remind me of something.
They remind me of the famous phrase Papandreou
was so strongly accused of.”We have money”.
Have you found money too?
If you sum up these figures,
we are talking about 0.2- 0.3 % of GDP.
I would accept your accusal about the opposite.
I would expect you to say
“You are promising the 0.2- 0.3 % of GDP while people are in greater need?”
I remind you that when we talked
about the low pensioners and the large families,
Venizelos commented
that despite other injustices we chose to make a suggestion about this issue.
I remember two months ago when Papadimos,
Venizelos and other financial councils
spent an entire night trying to find
300 million in order not to further decrease
the supplementary pensions.
If it was that easy to find this small amount,
why the trouble?
We submitted our suggestions then but the government
didn’t accept them.
We specifically explained them in Zapio 3.
We are very specific since day one.
And this is a considerable change in the greek political scene.
Mr Skandalidis,
I often hear Venizelos say similar things.
For example that no further reductions of salaries
and pensions will take place in June.
I know that Troika expects such reductions.
Can you guarantee that we won’t have new measures
affecting the citizens income after the elections?
We have the possibility to say
no to further reductions of basic salaries
and pensions.
We don’t say no to reductions in general.
We say no to horizontal cuts.
We say that taxes can stay stable from now on
and maybe later we will be able to lighten then according to the success
of the programme.
Since you say that Venizelos in an unreliable person
and Mr. Skandalidis said that Samaras is not to trust,
how will you ever be able to form a cooperative government
after the elections?
I have already said
that it is very difficult.
We aim at a self sufficient government
for essential reasons.
All the privatizations,
all the 30 million of new measures
are needed to cover for the mistakes of PASOK,
of Papandreou,
Venizelos,
Papaconstantinou
and the first memorandum that failed.
We set the same goals but will also take these measures.
You are saying that the first memorandum
was not good you voted against it,
while the second one was good
and you thus voted for it.
But this turn of yours is responsible for the creation
of the anti-memorandum small political parties on your right Mr Mitarakis.
And they may deprive your party of a self sufficient government.
Doesn’t this concern you?
I will remind you that one of the parties you are referring to,
a quite popular anti-memorandum one,
has announced that they will leave the memorandum only
if they find the money elsewhere.
So I think that populism is dominant
in these elections
and that people are risking to be deceived.
Even those who don’t agree with the memorandum,
they admit in their programme that,
at that moment, we had no other option.
Moreover,
the majority of the deputies of these parties supported Papadimos government.
Populism is,
while belonging to a deeply conservative political party
that will eventually impose strict measures
in the country,constantly talking about development.
Gentlemen ,
I would like to end this debate with a more personal question.
Mr Skandalidis,
if I am not wrong, you have been a deputy for 23 years.
Have you ever thought of retiring?
Do you believe that we need to set a limit in the number of deputy services?
First of all,
I would prefer a big change of the political system of the country.
The representation has to become original again.
We need to review democracy from scratch and change everything.
But without any restrictive regulations.
Secondly,
I have thought of quitting many times.
Especially in the middle of difficult situations and out of tiredness.
I think that a politician,
as long as he has still things to offer,
he has fresh ideas, he is politically consistent,
can claim for a position.
And people will honor him.
Fortunately people have honored me as well,
even with the first place.
Appreciation by the politicians and the people gives us the power to continue.
Mr Mitarakis,
this is the first time you ask for the citizens’ vote.
You come from the private sector.
You were working in the private sector.
I want to ask you if the country’s economy is not doing better,
and the deputies’ salary has to be reduced in half,
how would you feel having to live with half the money
you earned in the private sector?
I am not a professional politician
and I don’t want to become one.
It is useful to attract in politics people with qualifications
and experience.
Politics should not be an occupation for those who cannot work,
with salaries that don’t respond to their role.
I may be able to manage because I have been working for many years
and have saved money.
The question is
whether we will be able to attract the people we want.
Good luck to both of you.
Thank you very much.