On the seventh anniversary of the tragedy at Mati with 104 deaths, government spokesperson and deputy minister to the prime minister Pavlos Marinakis spoke on Parapolitika 90.1 radio show “Bras de fer,” with journalists Dimitris Takis and Christina Korai. “Our thoughts are with the people who were lost, the burn victims, their families. Such days, like every day, should remind us that ‘never again’ has meaning only if we advance as much as possible those policies that have no party affiliation or political color, such as prevention, protection, evacuation, the 112 emergency system and all these, because the state must do everything possible each time so that such tragedies are not repeated,” he said characteristically.
Subsequently, asked to comment on yesterday’s protest action in Syros that prevented Israeli tourists from disembarking on the island, he said: “What happened in Syros is outrageous, there are no words to describe it. It is an isolated incident and the authorities should do everything possible in any future case to ensure it doesn’t happen again. Antisemitism and any form of fascism and racism will not be tolerated in Greece. We will not allow racist behaviors, every necessary measure must be taken so that in similar cases citizens are protected regardless of where they come from, what their origin is, what their religion is or anything else. There are some sick minorities who confuse things, it’s one thing to have a self-evidently permitted protest, it’s another thing to protest and shout about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza that the Greek government has naturally been the first to express itself on, and it’s another thing for a democratic protest to turn into an event that for me has fascist characteristics… Local authorities must apply the law as provided by law in any future demonstration“.
“I’m not saying that an illegal act was committed, this must be found each time by the Police with Justice, but certainly from the moment such a situation was created, the authorities had an obligation to impose order and ensure the safe disembarkation of passengers. The next time passenger safety, citizen safety, anyone’s safety must be ‘weighed’ against anything else, safety is above all. The authorities must enforce the law,” he added.
Asked if an issue was created in Mr. Gerapetritis’s communication with his Israeli counterpart, he replied: “There is no issue. It’s logical that something like this would create concern, because we’re talking about citizens of a state“.
Then, asked if he feels like a spokesperson for a government that is “Camorra,” Mr. Marinakis replied: “It is the second nature, perhaps even the first nature of the opposition, and unfortunately a party that had not shown such writing samples is sliding more and more, PASOK. I believe that characterizations, insults and populism are the weapon of people who have no arguments. The opposition uses this rhetoric because it has learned to do politics this way… All this perhaps reveals fear, guilt about something and lack of arguments. Have you heard the expression ‘the thief shouts’? It fits like a glove in this case!“.
Pavlos Marinakis on OPEKEPE: Agricultural subsidies are a chronic national wound for which everyone bears responsibility
Regarding agricultural subsidies and OPEKEPE, Mr. Marinakis noted: “From the first moment we have said that agricultural subsidies are a chronic national wound for which everyone bears responsibility. We didn’t wash our hands of it and said let our years be illuminated too. When a country has paid 2.7 billion euros in fines over 30 years, no one can talk about a scandal that is limited to certain years“.
Regarding the involvement of PASOK associates and officials in agricultural subsidy issues, he said: “The very denial and reaction of PASOK as well as what was said in the case of Mr. Antonopoulos, all this which is written as a parallel to the ‘frappe’ actions is the trap that PASOK fell into. What do all these have in common? They use as an excuse that ‘we used the technical solution,’ this is the trap that PASOK fell into. Is it possible that we want the minister who agreed to the technical solution to go for a felony but justify the one who benefited, took money because of the technical solution“.
