JOURNALIST: Once again, the country is facing the dilemma: measures or bankruptcy, and the citizens wonder what is going wrong and also why is it going wrong.

D. AVRAMOPOULOS: Our country’s rescue does not depend on taking new measures the citizens cannot take any more, but on immediately concluding new social alliances which will ward any new burden off the Greek citizen. At the same time, they will offer solution to intense financial problems which can wait no more. The situation is very difficult and the circumstances are serious.  National understanding is the supreme value of Democracy, currently indispensable in order for our country to come out of the crisis.

JOURNALIST: Of course, the question is: Does to Government under Papademos have the capability to proceed to structural changes? 

D. AVRAMOPOULOS: The government of Papademos emerged as a necessary requirement, which was formed from a policy that led the country to major and crucial survival issues. This government assumed the implementation of a policy which was decided at the Summit of October 2011. In this sense, the political choices of this government, as well as the decisions taken, are placed in the framework of the mandate it has received from the political parties supporting it, particularly by the political leaders’ decision during their meeting with the President of the Hellenic Republic.

JOURNALIST: The “Nea Demokratia” party seems to disagree with a series of measures of decisive importance. What are the possibilities for it to push, without putting at stake the government’s cohesion and maybe even the negotiations on the PSI, the signing of the new loan agreement and the payment of the next tranche?

D. AVRAMOPOULOS: The “Nea Demokratia” party has political positions, rational arguments and well-founded research. It is the party, par excellence, seeking solutions from the current coalition government, given that in the future, with the election, it shall have the main responsibility for the luck of this country. As far as the financial formula is concerned, we have to take into account, as I have already mentioned before, that society has no more room for financial bleeding. Recession has to be inverted, unemployment has to be reduced and economy shrinkage, which has reached a dangerous phase, has to stop. As far as the PSI and the new loan are concerned, the clauses governing them should ensure all of the aforementioned. This should be at the centre of the negotiation. And the mission of the new government, as well as the course to the election, depends to a great extent from this.

JOURNALIST: In the end, in view of the new loan agreement, will the “Nea Demokratia” party vote for the measures demanded by our creditors?

D. AVRAMOPOULOS: I believe that I have already answered to this question.  The citizens must be at the centre of our bargaining power. This is why a new, fresh mandate is needed, which will offer the time for discussion and implementation. My personal hope, as the hope of us all, is to avoid the need to enforce new measures, before or after the elections.

JOURNALIST: Is the time of the elections, a little bit before, a little bit after Easter, so important?

D. AVRAMOPOULOS: The time of the elections becomes important with the gradual fulfillment of the current government’s mission. “Nea Demokratia” and Antonis Samaras have always been open to national understanding; this was not PASOK government’s honest will, though. Yet now, things have changed and through this transitional government of national coalition, the way opens for deep and sincere national understanding, characterized by the new policy heralded from “Nea Demokratia” since the next day. For this reason, after the fulfillment of this government’s goal, the elections will act decisively to initiating a new era for society, for our country.

JOURNALIST: In any way, the elections carry surprises. How do you face the possibility that “Nea Demokratia” might be the first party, without governing majority though? Won’t some kind of cooperation be inevitable?

D. AVRAMOPOULOS: “Nea Demokratia” party, from the moment it will be assigned with the country’s governing by the Hellenic people, will do the exact opposite from what PASOK did in 2009. It will act, not based on intolerance and revanchism, but on national cooperation and synthesis, on the basis of a mutually acceptable national agenda.  In this way the will of society, which consists the directive we are given, will be genuinely interpreted.

JOURNALIST: In other words, you are telling me that “Nea Demokratia” – whether it is a self-sufficient government or not – will seek for national understanding.

D. AVRAMOPOULOS: Have no doubt about that.

JOURNALIST: You are an advocate of cooperation. Did the Papademos experiment justify you?

D. AVRAMOPOULOS: In my opinion, cooperation and understanding are an essential condition for everything concerning the totality and, thus, the country’s interest; particularly during a crisis, like the current one. Things would be much different if a sincere initiative for national understanding had been assumed from the beginning. Observe how the political authorities proceeded in Italy and Spain.

JOURNALIST: The prospect of increasing military service, which has come up lately, worries young people. Can a government of specific mission make such a difficult decision?

D. AVRAMOPOULOS: I would like to clarify, once more, that the discussion held lately concerning the possible increase of military service, pertains to the relative research and propositions made by the General Staffs of all three branches, in order to ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of the Armed Forces.

I can fully comprehend the young people’s concern, who cannot afford the consequences of this financial crisis, nor can they go without the possibility for immediate occupational rehabilitation.

No decision has been taken on this issue and everything will have to be examined on time. Get quantified, assessed and judged based on national and social changes.

JOURNALIST: Did you imagine, some years ago, that we would have soup kitchens and impoverished citizens in Greece?

D. AVRAMOPOULOS: Being Mayor of Athens for eight years, I was given the possibility, not only to come close to helpless, underprivileged and homeless fellow citizens, but to also try, at the time, to present solutions to their primary needs, such as providing with food and accommodation. We all ought to actively show that our country respects and cares for all of its citizens who cannot survive under these unfavourable circumstances. Of course, through this crisis, a new society will emerge. A society within which no one should feel alone and solidarity will be its main ingredient. Citizens do not need charity. They need measures and policies that will grant them recognition in society.

JOURNALIST: Will you be in the State ballot of the “Nea Demokratia” party, as rumoured?

D. AVRAMOPOULOS: No. My presence in politics always goes through the approval, support and trust of society.

JOURNALIST: Everything shows that in Athens A’ Electoral District you have a strong precedence against the other candidates from “Nea Demokratia”. Do you support any of them? I am asking because, in view of the elections, various rumours have started already.

D. AVRAMOPOULOS: Indeed, they are only rumours. Since 2004 I am being elected in Athens A’ Electoral District and it is known that I never favoured nor was I favoured by selective relationships. Everyone has his own course and needs to find the way open for meeting with the citizens.

JOURNALIST: There is an intense pseudo-literature lately that, amidst the crisis, our country will proceed to the purchasing of the famous aircraft Eurofighters. During this period, can our country respond financially to such a military provision?

D. AVRAMOPOULOS: It has been many years since the Air Force discuss the purchase of new generation aircraft. There are various types, from different countries. There are no discussions or thoughts yet, at the level of political leadership of the Ministry of National Defence, to proceed to any relative order, due to the financial situation. Neither the money nor the intentions exist.

JOURNALIST: Does the crisis in Europe generate any questions concerning the day after?

D. AVRAMOPOULOS: The financial crisis in Europe and the whole world sets the markets’ omnipotence on new bases.  It causes a trust crisis of the citizens against the states and their political systems. The era of globalization characterized by a “less of a state” gives its place to a “different state” than the one they had known until nowadays.

We have to reconsider the role of the state. We need to redefine it. The state must invest in development and innovation. It must be the guarantor of a social contract. The protector of a world under dispute. A state where law and justice rule.

This is the state transformation practiced through the constitutional review suggested by the “Nea Demokratia” party, which has thoroughly worked on it.