JOURNALIST: The election of the President of the Republic is already in the political agenda and it seems that it will be the subject of political arguments over the next months. What is your opinion?
 
D. AVRAMOPOULOS: The Parliament with its current composition may elect a President of the Republic. Any argument on this issue will be counterproductive for our Republic in a period when our country is on the verge of exiting from the crisis.
Moreover, the election of the President of the Republic is according to the Constitution a procedure of consent and as such it must be considered and interpreted by all Parliamentary parties which bear the political and moral responsibility towards the people and the nation to ensure legitimacy and constitutional order.

JOURNALIST: Yet, may it lead to early elections?
 
D. ΑVRAMOPOULOS: Only in case the majority of votes required by the Constitution are not reached during the first three voting procedures. I told you that this majority of 180 MPs with the current composition of the Parliament can be achieved. But the Presidential election is a significant issue which must be solved one day.
This is why New Democracy in its suggestions for the constitutional revision includes enhancing President’s powers in such a manner that, among others, his election will not be related to the dissolution of the parliament and the declaration of early elections. It is contradictory and totally controversial to the role of a head of state, who is a factor of stability, consent and cohesion and not a catalyst leading to early elections.
 
JOURNALIST: However, Mr. Tsipras threatens that it will lead the country to early elections. 

D. AVRAMOPOULOS: Based on simple mathematics and correlating current facts this is not possible.
 
JOURNALIST: So you don’t see elections within 2014.
 
D. AVRAMOPOULOS: The right thing is for the elections to take place at the end of the four-year’s term.
 
JOURNALIST: There is wide discussion lately about Mr. Tsipras’ religious “beliefs”.
 
D. AVRAMOPOULOS: This matter refers to personal data. Every person is free to believe what his conscience prompts him.
 
JOURNALIST: You have served as a Chairman of New Democracy’s Committee for the Revision of the Constitution and you have reached some conclusions. What comes next?
 
D. AVRAMOPOULOS: The Prime Minister and New Democracy’s Leader had published 31 radical suggestions for the revision of the constitution in due time before the elections, and they still remain topical.
The hard experience of the crisis our country faces coincides with almost four decades passed since Konstantinos Karamanlis’ constitution was adopted in 1975. A deep constitutional reform will promote a new political and constitutional stability, a new wide social consent.
 
JOURNALIST: Can the political situation change;
 
D. AVRAMOPOULOS: Under the emergency situation we have been going through over the last four years, many aspects of the political life have faced a justified disapproval. But, at the same time, the appropriate conditions and ideas which can result in a big change have been created.

JOURNALIST: However, we take for granted that our political system is in crisis and disapproved by the people.
 
D. AVRAMOPOULOS: A revision of the Constitution will serve as a stabilising factor, as far as it will include our society’s requests and a critical approach to our political system as it has been developed over the last forty years and particularly over the last four years.
It is therefore necessary to open a new chapter for Greece; to overcome the crisis and terminate the memoranda; to return to growth and cash sufficiency for our society; to correct the injustice which was imposed due to the current circumstances; to adopt new political principles ensured by a new constitution of our country. Future is not the exclusive privilege of any party. Future must unite us all and not separate us.
 
JOURNALIST: Let’s finish with the defence and procurements issues?
 
D. AVRAMOPOULOS: My statement of January 3, after I met the Prime Minister, is absolutely true. Defending the public interest in the sensitive field of the Armed Forces remains one of our government’s permanent priorities.
 
We are also considering some suggestions for institutional amendments and changes in the exchange practices applied between state and companies and we will present them to the Defence and Armaments Committee in early February, as we have committed ourselves to do. The purpose of these suggestions is to fully ensure transparency and protect the reputation, the reliability and the national mission of the Armed Forces.
 
I have already committed myself before the Parliament, during my mandate, to bring into discussion any expenses for supplies and maintenance – since any new procurement are out of the question – before the responsible Parliamentary Committee, and ask for its approval.

Transparency and effectiveness in the Armed Forces are our unique and constant choices and we achieve them by all means provided for by the Constitution and the Law.