In his address, the Greek PM expressed his satisfaction over the required ratification by EU parliaments of the agreement Greece reached with its creditors, which he said wrapped up a first round of laborious and tough negotiations.
"Our European partners were forced to accept something that seemed taboo up to now, that the memorandums and the policies implemented in Greece over the last five years were not simply socially catastrophic but financially ineffective as well," he said.According to him the government is obligated to begin a series of sweeping reforms that are needed, in order to fight tax evasion, deal effectively with corruption, overhaul the public sector, restart the real economy and deal with the humanitarian crisis.
The first bill is set to be introduced in the new week and aims to provide free electricity and foodstuffs to well over 300,000 Greek families. At the same time, the government plans to introduce a housing program for 30,000 people and call for a restriction in the number of evictions, which reached a high during the five years of the bailout memorandum.
The new legislation is also going to include a provision to relieve 3.7 million taxpayers, including small and medium-sized enterprises, that came to owe more than 5,000 euros each without any hope of repayment.
A separate bill relating to non-performing loans to the state is also expected to be introduced. According to Tsipras, it is going to include a clause relating to outstanding payments to insurance funds and aims to lift laws leading to the arrest and jailing of taxpayers who owe up to 50,000 euros to the state. The bill also plans to restore the status of reports by the finance ministry's financial crimes squad (SDOE), allowing for immediate action to be taken on suspected tax evasion cases.
The prime minister also said that it is the first time that all audit material accumulated over the years, including the so-called Lagarde list of large Greek bank deposits abroad and cases from the unit processing funds from criminal activities, had been consolidated and would help in the pursuit of tax evaders.
He also said that the primary home of families (or "first home") will be protected by a regulation that is also going to be filed in the new week and "put an end to the anxiety of hundreds of thousands of our fellow citizens, workers and pensioners who are in danger of losing their home," over real estate taxes. According to the Greek PM this measure will be an emergency regulation and will affect only homes whose official value does not exceed 300,000 euros.
Turning to the issue of the state broadcaster, Tsipras said that on March 5th the bill for ERT (the former state broadcaster shut down by the Samaras government in June 2013) is also going to be tabled. It aims to reinstitute the broadcaster (which is now replaced by NERIT) with an upgraded program. He said that this is not going to burden the state budget and therefore is not part of the ongoing negotiations with Greece's creditors.
(A SYRIZA MP said on Friday that electricity prices would be hiked so that the expenses for ERT will be paid.)
"The government must show readiness at every level and in every sector in order to be resolving practical problems on a daily basis and promote continuing reforms that will make life easier for Greek citizens and that will streamline the public sector," he stressed.Justifying the decision by Productive Reconstruction, Environment and Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis to revoke the architectural and electrical engineering licence at the Skouries gold mine in northern Greece's Halkidiki peninsula, Tsipras said the move was required following serious charges and a review was necessary to ensure the company kept the licence obligations.
The government wants to defend two priorities it has, the environment and public interest, and will serve the interests of workers and the Greek people with unwavering consistency, he added.
Finally, the premier said that in the following week the government would table a proposal for the drawing up of a committee to investigate the memorandums, the conditions under which they were accepted and the political liability of everyone who contributed to the country's bankruptcy and forced it into borrowing.
The premier called on all ministers to work together with the minister of administrative reform, thus make everything ready faster, and advised cabinet members to work hard in order to honour the people's mandate. "I call on you to use fewer political slogans and do more work: Less talk and more action," he said.
On Saturday the PM addressed SYRIZA's Central Committee. He said that:
"We are at the start of a great and difficult battle... We are not going to escape from our commitments."He referred to a turbulence in the first month of SYRIZA's governance noting that Greece is not Europe's pariah's any more that follows orders and only implements memorandums.
"The people feel that they regain their lost dignity. The humanitarian crisis is the main issue of the discussions. We have made allies on international and European level in order to get rid of the self-fuelled crises. We said a lot of 'no' despite the unbearable pressures" noted Tsipras and reiterated that "the troika and the memorandum are history".Following his speech main opposition New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras said that "Tsipras should be ashamed. He charges me for the European People's Party announcement, the context of which he has co-signed in the last decision of the Eurogroup."
Samaras noted that EPPs announcement said that Greece had made a huge progress in the last years and should keep its commitments.
"He (Tsipras) must be in a great despair and fear to refer to such nonsense and to make up imaginary enemies to justify his own lies and impasses..." said Samaras.Samaras noted that the 'bridge' Tsipras' prepares is for the next memorandum to which he is leading us and that for this reason, as he said, he will give account.
"If he believes that by attacking me and our partners he can become a European politician, he has not a single idea what's going on. He does wrong not only to himself but also to the country which is in Europe and will remain in Europe. Shame!" concluded Samaras.Combined Reports: ANA-MPA
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