SYRIZA leadership debate: Candidates present economic proposals

Apostolos Gletsos stated that under his leadership, the party would not support policies that fail to address the growing disparity in living standards between Greece and Europe. He emphasized, “ Greeks are in deep poverty, while cartels are seeing their profits soar.” Gletsos criticized the Mitsotakis government, saying, “ It inherited a 37-billion-euro surplus from the Tsipras administration, settled debt and access to 30 billion euros from the Recovery Fund and the NSRF. Despite this, Greece ranks 26th in Europe, showing a clear divergence.”

Pavlos Polakis argued for the immediate reinstatement of the 13th salary and pension, citing existing surpluses as sufficient to support this move. “ I advocate economic growth as a means to reduce debt. We must also reverse the devaluation of labor caused by the memoranda,” he asserted. Nikolas Farantouris asked Polakis about his plan to tackle cartels. Polakis responded, “ We need to reclaim strategic sectors of the economy under public control, including bringing the National Bank back to state ownership. Without regaining control of the Helleniq Energy refinery or securing a 51% stake in PPC, we cannot break energy cartels.”

Sokratis Famellos accused the Mitsotakis government of misleading the public about inflation. “ Price gouging makes the poor poorer and the rich richer. Cutting VAT on food would cost 900 million euros, but VAT revenue has increased by 3 billion euros. The government acts as a traffic cop for excessive profits. Over the last three years, 20 billion euros have been drained from society,” he said. Famellos also called for public housing policies to address skyrocketing costs, which he argued were stifling wages and worsening demographic challenges.

Responding to a question on business-university cooperation, Farantouris stated that his proposals were unrelated to the “ business-friendly” approach endorsed by SYRIZA’s former leader. He also outlined a detailed plan to rescue SYRIZA-owned media outlets, including “ Avgi” newspaper and “ Sto Kokkino” radio station, through a mix of party and private participation.

AMNA