The Alternate Minister of National Defence Dimitris Vitsas in an interview that he gave on Wednesday, January 4, 2017, on ERT Radio, stated, among other things:
My first wish regarding the Ministry of National Defence is peace. My second wish is to manage the refugee-migrant issue which is one of the biggest national issues, even better.
The question is whether it will be a good year for Greece with the dire situation that we have been going through since 2010 and the signing of the memoranda and when this good year will come. I am telling you that a good year will be the year when Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will be able to announce that the assessments have been completed and that normal conditions have been restored in our country; by normal I mean that we have a stable banking system, we perform the procedures for a productive reconstruction of our economy and a reconstruction of our state and we build a social state according to leftist standards. This can be done after two conditions have been met: the first one is to implement what we have signed to implement, and the second one is, at the same time, to take measures to protect the most vulnerable groups.
Last May, a number of measures regarding finance and insurance were voted. We are all aware of this procedure; besides, a tense political debate was conducted back then, the conclusions of which are going to be implemented now. This has not become obvious yet. We are at a phase that everyone collects evidence from various sources and presents them in their own manner to prove what they used as argument from the very beginning. This is the reason why people are quite confused about what will happen in January.
Regarding the probability of signing a fourth memorandum:
The fourth memorandum is part of the plans of New Democracy party, not of our plans. We plan to have completed this programme by the summer of 2018 and bring the country back to normal and be able to refund our debt via the international markets and, in parallel, pay the interest rates with our own money, as well as with other sources of income, and to fund real economy in real terms through our banking system and our public investment programme. This will become obvious in what we call growth rates. This should become obvious also in the reduction of the unemployment rate which has already been reduced by 4%. It will also become obvious in the redistributional payments of our budget.
The definition of unemployment as it is measured by the European Union and Greece as well, is not correct. According to this definition, if somebody works for an hour per week and earns what they earn, they are considered as employed. Unemployment is directly related to the extent that someone earns what he needs to make a living. We must also see how to reinforce the auditing procedures because there are people, young people in particular, who work full-time and are paid for half-time. We are all aware of these things which we should control as government, as a state and as a society.
The fourth memorandum is something that everybody should wish to avoid. For us, if we have to sign a fourth memorandum it will be a failure. This is clear. The main problem in this procedure is to find a technical and substantial manner – this is what we struggle for now and we have been struggling all along – to make the management of the debt sustainable. Because everything depends on what is going on with this figure which is not a percentage, but an absolute term, approximately 320 billion euro. This has to do, firstly, with Greece, that is we should achieve an economy that gives us the possibility to live on what we produce, import and export at a macroeconomic level, and secondly, with the rest of Europe. I quite often stress that the policy of inflexible social austerity that Europe applies, is not a correct decision not only for politics and society, but for the economy as well. This becomes quite clear when, among the total number of European Union member-states, few are the ones which achieve a primary surplus and growth rates following this procedure, whereas most of them and, in particular, the Mediterranean countries face quite a lot of problems.
Regarding Cyprus’ issue:
The government of Greece has set a red line. According to this red line the state of Cyprus should be indivisible; it needs neither guarantees nor foreign troops. The main point is to solve the issue of the withdrawal of occupation troops and, of course, to solve also the property issue, the political issue etc. This is our general position which is also based on UN resolutions. Many times over the past years, it seemed that we almost reached a common understanding. What is very important is the extent to which the political leadership of Turkish Cypriots will seem to be detached from Turkey.
Cyprus is an independent state. We have a very good cooperation with both the political leadership and with all the political forces of Cyprus and we always understand each other. This does not mean that our opinion is that Cyprus decides and we follow its decisions. We have a view on the manner in which stability will be built throughout this area. At this moment our views are the same. There is no reason to search for controversies. There aren’t any. So, it is in this manner that we will handle the issue. Next week things will become clear, in my opinion. Finding a solution is to everybody’s interest. Do not forget that the final decision will be made in Cyprus upon a referendum.
Regarding Turkey’s aggressiveness on the Aegean Sea:
The Ministry of National Defence has a specific role and the Armed Forces have their deterrence role; they are alert and react with calmness, composure and determination and thus they will act in the future too. If a provocative rhetoric is promoted by various centres within turkey, for political reasons, this is a mistake which regards not only us, but Turkey itself as well, and its internal situation. Turkey’s problems are not located on its Eastern coast, but elsewhere. What we do not allow by any means, is our sovereignty rights to be disputed.
