Samaras : You Cannot Change A Country Without Battling Populism & Extremism (VIDEO)

You cannot change a country without changing mentalities and without fighting populism and extremism, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras told the main New Democracy (ND) party political committee meeting on Sunday. Speaking at ND headquarters on Syngrou Avenue in Athens, the PM and party leader said that:

     "you cannot change a country if you do not fight and win the battle of ideas and if you do not keep an open battle front with populism and extremes. The Greek people are not passive observers."
     "The battle of ideas has a specific adversary; you have to know who the enemy is. Today it is necessary to bring productive investments to the country. Those who say no to investments are [our] opponents. Our goal is to bring more job openings - those who are against this and shut down factories are [our] opponents," the PM said, " adding that "when the primary need is for security, those who reinforce hooded protesters and those who burn down the city."

Speaking of PASOK in the government, Samaras said that:

     "there is a lot in our past separating us from PASOK, but there is a great committment bringing us together: to take the country out of its crisis."

He further said that everyone makes mistakes, but the greatest mistakes are made on streets and sidewalks by those who have never governed.

     "We are in great conflict with those who want nothing to change," he added.

His government's priority, he said, was "first to save our country, otherwise we will not be worthy of its history...What will our children say if, when it's time to bring the country out of crisis, we start fighting over the past?"

Both ND and PASOK are "the only remaining forces that want to save the country," Samaras charged, saying that did not mean the two merged or obliterated their differences. "However, it's one thing to prioritise the needs of our homeland, which is in emergency mode, and another to forget your differences. Look at what is going on in Greece - a year ago, Greece was the only source of instability. Look at it today - uncertainty and instability everywhere around us, while Greece looks like the only island of stability."

Samaras made special mention to NBA-selected Greek basketball forward of Nigerian descent, Giannis Adetokunbo, who does not forget he's Greek. "He has some people curse him and then complain that we call them neo-Nazis, while he is more of a Greek than those burning the Greek flag," Samaras said. "We move on, leaving the extremists in their misery, their whining is turning off Greek society. The battle for ideas unites, does not divide the majority," he concluded. (AMNA)