In an interview he gave on Monday, 3 June 2019, on REAL FM radio to the journalist Nikos Hatzinikolaou, the Alternate Minister of National Defence, Panos Rigas, stated, among others, the following:
The European Parliament election and the national election may be close, but the stakes are different. The main stake of the national election is the political programme based on which the country will be governed in the next few years. In 2015, we took over during a very difficult period. Our primary concern was the end of the MoU regime and the implementation, within the framework of a very difficult agreement, of protection measures for those who suffered the most during the first years of the crisis. After the conclusive end of the MoU regime in August 2018, we took a series of positive initiatives, starting with the Prime Minister’s announcements in the Thessaloniki International Fair, which have already become law and are scheduled for the next three years.
The recent election sent a clear message. We fully understand that people’s lives don’t change based on economic indices and, unfortunately, everyday life has not changed as much as we would like. I’d like everyone to think how things were between 2010 and 2014 and how things are today. Obviously, not as we would like, but certainly better in comparison. During the past year, measures have been taken to overall improve the everyday life of the citizens. We passed the law for the 120 instalment arrangement for debtors. The reduction of VAT in food and energy is a breath of fresh air for the middle class and entrepreneurship. There still hasn’t been enough time for these measures to produce results.
From this point forward, the debate should be about specific programmes, not muddy arguments. I hear these days many things that obscure New Democracy’s true programme.
Mr. Mitsotakis says he will reduce taxes. But he skilfully avoids answering where he will find the money to do it. From cuts in wages, pensions, the social state? Certain things can’t be hidden and not be discussed. And this discussion is now.
We will present the programme for the following day, how we will govern, and how the country’s recovery will proceed.
New Democracy only makes general references to its economic programme. We will get to the core; we can’t stay at the surface. For example, its proposal for the insurance system, i.e. the transfer of funds from the State to private insurance, is essentially an investment through insurance companies and carries a risk, there are no absolute guarantees, and the people should know this. We will present a programme for the following day which will be the extension of what we have done since the end of the MoU and guardianship regime in August and, at the same time, a course to change the economic situation. The citizens must decide if this course should continue or stop.
