In his debut as opposition leader, Nikos Androulakis defended the Motology submitted by the PASOK-Movement for Change to include ESY nurses and EKAB rescuers in the heavy and unhealthy category. He even asked the government to accept it as a sign of consensus while criticizing the Health Minister, who he said attempted to slander PASOK.

“Today, we are tabling an amendment to include NHS nurses and EKAB crews in the heavy and unhealthy category. We call on the government – and the minister himself personally – to support it. It was he, after all, who has repeatedly committed himself to a positive recommendation on this issue and speaks of a fair demand, something he has repeated very recently in public in his interviews,” the PASOK-Movement for Change chairman said.

He added that according to a recent report by the OECD, our country ranks last in the ratio of nurses, with just 4 per 1,000 inhabitants, compared to an average ratio of 8 per 1,000, putting the relevant data on the record.

“If you do not support the amendment we are tabling today, Mr Georgiadis, you will fall into the trap that you tried to set for PASOK. Populism and demagoguery are to make commitments and promises but then say that this cannot be done because it “destroys” public health. Of course, your unreliability is not only in the field of health but also in the field of economy,” the PASOK-KINAL president noted.

Androulakis pointed to the legislative initiatives his party has submitted, culminating in a two-point reduction in the rates of VAT. “Mitsotakis has proposed a reduction not only in basic goods but across the board in goods and services. At a time when the country had no surpluses but huge deficits. Were you populists, yes or no? Had Mr Mitsotakis put a price tag on it? But why should you apologize? You were not in New Democracy at the time and you even called Mr Mitsotakis a populist. And I come to the post-memorandum period. In May 2019, you submitted an amendment as the opposition calling for a reduction in VAT on foodstuffs, electricity, gas, and catering. Did you cost the measure? Was there a margin in the public finances? And to put it even more simply: now that there is budgetary space we are tabling a measure at a much lower cost than your amendment and you call it populism. Whereas real populism is to come in before the election, without the current accuracy that has driven up the cost of living, with marginal fiscal space, and propose a measure of multiple costs. The PASOK-KINAL president stressed that “the crayfish of the oyster is the silent one!

He announced that the next two initiatives will be the freezing of golden visas in municipalities where rents are galloping and the taxation of bank excess profits.

“There will be no fig leaf for the government when banking institutions, recapitalized with the Greek people’s effort and money, have accumulated €8 billion in 2023. So here is a glorious field of glory for consensus for the benefit of the Greek people. To put their hand in the pocket of the oligopolies that have unscrupulously accumulated billions of euros at a time when the purchasing power of the Greek people is the second to last in Europe, “stressed Nikos Androulakis.