“Mr. Tsipras has given speeches, he has an Institute, but I don’t see serious breaks with dominant thinking. When he talks to us about democratic capitalism, it troubles me greatly”, emphasized Euclid Tsakalotos speaking on Parapolitika 90.1.
Tsakalotos on Parapolitika 90.1: “We haven’t convinced everyone”
The parliamentary spokesperson of New Left spoke on Friday afternoon (5/9) on the show “On Air” with journalist Niki Lyberaki and among other things mentioned regarding the polling numbers of New Left: “We haven’t convinced everyone despite having a very busy summer with many interventions from party members and Mr. Charitsis”.
He added that: “We are trying to highlight issues because we are in very difficult times and we are trying to change the agenda at the Thessaloniki International Fair as well. For us, the issue is not to enter into a discussion of ‘ND gives 2 billion, PASOK 2.5 billion, we give 3 billion’ because this operates within certain constraints and ideological assumptions that need to be overturned… The issue is that we cannot continue to believe that we can have a welfare state with military spending above 3% as Mr. Mitsotakis promised, or that if you tax the rich you won’t have investments, or that wages can increase without a radical change in labor relations”.
“People are afraid, they have great insecurity”
When asked why New Left doesn’t convince society, Euclid Tsakalotos said: “Our proposal is more difficult while the proposal that ‘we will give more money’ is the easy proposal. People are afraid, they have great insecurity”. And he added: “Mr. Mitsotakis had a longer grace period from the people but it became clear that he hasn’t done as well economically as he thought. That is, in all indicators compared to Europe we are behind – in per capita income, in wages, in how much we pay for education, for health…” As he said: “If military spending must be so high, I don’t see ND taking initiatives for peace. We have a government that has essentially supported genocide – this shows its tendency, it doesn’t care about international relations. Trump says something and it says ‘me too, me too sir'”.
In response to the journalist’s comment: “However, Greece’s interests with Israel were tied even more closely during the Left’s governance”, the parliamentary spokesperson of New Left said: “SYRIZA may have made mistakes. I believe that was a mistake just as I consider what we did with mining explorations a mistake – the difference is that we have written books with our self-criticisms, we’re not like ND and PASOK… In difficult conditions we did quite good things, but we also did things I’m not proud of”.
“When Tsipras talks to us about democratic capitalism, it troubles me greatly”
Regarding Alexis Tsipras, Euclid Tsakalotos said: “Mr. Tsipras has given speeches, he has an Institute, but I don’t see serious breaks with dominant thinking. When he talks to us about democratic capitalism, it troubles me greatly. Capitalism has proven from America to China that it is completely compatible with undemocratic regimes”.
Finally, referring to SYRIZA he commented: “I believe we have divergences on quite major issues and we also have divergences in the way we conduct politics”.
