“The government is accountable for developments in Libya,” PASOK MP Michalis Katrinis said on ERTNEWS’s “Syndeseis” programme, hosted by Kostas Papachlimintzos and Stella Papamichail.
He recalled that a few months ago the son of Field Marshal Haftar met the prime minister and foreign minister, and the government assured the public that talks on delimiting maritime zones were making very good progress. Yet, he noted, the country is once again faced with faits accomplis, highlighting the ineffectiveness of the government’s diplomacy. He also criticised the absence of a Greek request for economic sanctions against Libya and Turkey.
“New Democracy is making Greece smaller at every level. Citizens’ purchasing power and disposable income are shrinking. Real output is falling, with the primary sector a case in point. The population is shrinking, as deaths far outnumber births, while young people continue to leave the country. At the same time, Greece’s geopolitical footprint in the wider region is diminishing,” he said, adding that “the only thing growing is the government’s arrogance, as it tries to convince citizens they are living more or less in paradise”.
On protests by school and university students, he said their large-scale, peaceful participation had disproved the government’s alarmism about clashes. He condemned the pre-emptive criminalisation of protest and called on the government to address young people’s real demands rather than heighten tensions with talk of disorder and unrest.
He highlighted prohibitive housing costs that prevent young people from studying even when they have secured places at highly sought-after courses. He said the increase in spending on the housing allowance from €50 million to €91 million did not match the doubling of housing costs, while very few student halls had been completed despite repeated government pledges.
He noted that, after almost eight years in government, these shortfalls were denying many successful applicants a genuine opportunity to study. He also criticised the decision to establish private universities of questionable quality at a time when families are struggling to support their children’s studies at public universities.
Finally, on minors’ access to social media, he questioned the government’s haste to legislate while the European proposal for the EU KIDS Act Regulation was already under discussion. He said PASOK was putting forward an amendment based on that proposal, providing for age-based tiers of access, parental supervision and meaningful protection for children.