Investigation committees have the jurisdiction of the investigating authorities as well as of the misdemeanor prosecutor and can conduct any necessary investigation so as to accomplish its objective. The parliament has the power to limit the committee's authority.
The parliament's investigation committee has the right to ask public authorities, administrations of public and private legal entities as well as citizens for oral or written information. It can also ask for public and other documents that exist in the state files.
Ministers are obliged to hand in the original or certified copies of the documents requested by the committee. However, the minister may not hand in such documents if he reckons that their release could hurt the country's interests, especially in cases of diplomatic or military secrets relating to the security of the country.
It should be reminded that last week PASOK slammed the proposed Parliamentary inquiry and instead unveiled its own detailed proposal. The one-time almighty socialist party actually had the audacity to condemn the government's decision to launch the inquiry as one undermining efforts at national consensus. Unlike the proposal presented by ruling coalition SYRIZA, which avoids naming individuals, PASOK named specific people to should be called up as witnesses and investigated, such as former prime minister Costas Karamanlis and several European officials (among them European Commissioner Jean-Claude Juncker and current International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde).
While noting that the inquiry was an "excellent opportunity" to air certain things in public, it simultaneously queried the move at a time when Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras claimed to be striving for a consensus with the opposition parties and accused him of "unfolding a plan of artificial tension that deliberately prevents the formation of a uniform national negotiating front."
It also suggested the moves undermined the negotiations, since responsibility for the Greek bailout programs should not only be sought at home but also on a European and international level.
PASOK even accused the coalition government of "raising a protective barrier" around the Karamanlis era that preceded and allowed the crisis to develop. It attributed this to the presence of the Independent Greeks (ANEL) in the coalition and the choice of Prokopis Pavlopoulos as president.
Finally, PASOK even called for the investigation to extend to the period after the 2015 elections and the extension of the loan agreement signed on February 20.
Editor's Note: PASOK is way out of line. Before presenting the real facts, Greeks need to rid themselves from this organization which is more criminal than political. HellasFrappe truly believes that the members of this party are criminals, their policies were criminal and their loathing of the Greek people and of Greek interests were also criminal. In eight years of rule (Andreas Papandreou era) the only thing they established in Greece were KAPI which are senior citizens clubs. PASOK clearly does not want the era of Simitis to be investigated... and we ask WHY? The answer is obvious... Because that is when the "party" (when the big bucks circulated) reached its climax and they -meaning PASOK and their cronies- were having a whale of a time. Now for the facts about the Karamanlis period in government because we have had it up to here with PASOK which clearly lives to defend corrupt Greek oligarchs (σιγα μην τους αφηναμε):
The following report is from HellasFrappe's Editor Marina Spanos and puts things into perspective. CLICK HERE for article or read below.
In every logical mind, former PASOK leader George Papandreou, was, is, and will always be solely responsible for leading Greece into the embrace of the IMF, the Troika and the Memorandums. But the truth is that he did not act alone. The mechanism that his party built in Greece was (and is) so corrupted that it has to crash completely in order to be cleaned up. Meaning, that this country has to be run to the ground, these forces have to be weakened so that a new Greece can rise from the ashes.
There are some conservatives that helped PASOK in this destruction, and most of you probably know who they are already since they have moved away from the traditional values of the New Democracy party. (Example: George Karatzaferis, Dora Bakoyiannis, Giakoumatos, Mitsotakis... and a few others).
Costas Karamanlis was incorruptible unlike many other rulers before him and this made it difficult for Greek oligarchs to sway him into implementing laws that would benefit them (as other governments before him had done). Before and a little after the Olympic Games they were fair to him because they still held many interests in this country's development in the run-up to the games, but after that they changed their stance because Karamanlis did not have access to the funds that PASOK did -through the various Delors Packages (CSF funds)-, and if you look back at the criticism of his government from the mass media following this period you will understand that they were doing everything in their power to bring him down. Now, if there were a couple of rotten apples in Karamanlis' camp, that is another story, but the articles that occasionally criticize Karamanlis -all of which are published in PASOK-backed newspapers- do not even utter a word about any of that, and simply accuse him of being responsible for leading Greece to the Troika, and in a bizarre and twisted way attempt to lift the blame off of George Papandreou and especially off of the MEGA corruption master of this country Costas Simitis.
Unfortunately the political game in Greece does not play ball with the same kind of logic as you and I do. Shady interests can use mechanisms to manipulate the truth to such an extent that lies are twisted to sound like truths. And they can do this easily through popular newspapers, the radio, television and news sites on the web. In simple words they will use PROPAGANDA to push their agendas on us so that they can continue to operate as usual.
There is just one little problem. People with an ounce of logic don't buy into it any longer. The citizens of Greece have awakened, (well most have), and today they know that Karamanlis refused to bow to these well-known "cartels" for all the reasons we saw unfold before us over the last few years, or after the signing of the First Memorandum. In fact most conservatives, and especially those who doubted Karamanlis in the 2009 elections, today realize that because he did not succumb to these forces then, his life was threatened, his credibility as a politician was questioned and his political career was shattered into pieces.
Friends, several years ago, the PROPAGANDA machine named PASOK (and all the mechanisms that operate it) worked feverishly to tarnish the reputation of Karamanlis, and today the same mechanism is working with the same "cartels" again with a plan to exterminate Karamanlis from the political scene once and for all.
These individuals are well known in political circles and have on more than one occasion flip-flopped from being supporters of Andreas Papandreou, to supporters of Costas Simitis and then on to George Papandreou and finally to Evangelos Venizelos. In fact they will do anything it takes to bring PASOK back to power again -which today could also be called Elia or Potami- because when these pseudo-socialists rule, Greece's corrupt oligarchs somehow always fatten their bank accounts more easily.
One of the tools that was commonly used by these cartels and to some extent is still used is the "Ta Nea", "To Ethnos", "To Vima", "Efimerida Ton Syntakton" newspapers, as well as MEGA Tv. In fact they have been using these newspapers and television channels for years to spread falsifications against the New Democracy party and especially against Costas Karamanlis. We often would witness this in their weekend editions. The newspapers would publish articles every once in a while claiming that the Karamanlis' government was largely responsible for leading the country into the arms of the Troika, or at least opening a door to it, while MEGA channel was used to slam Karamanlis for even attempting to pick his nose.
They do this cleverly too. They publish an opinion piece but use MEGA channel to baptize it as an actual research report and as ridiculous as that sounds some people actually believe that it is a report forgetting all along that it is only the opinion of one. Clearly, these propaganda filled articles -full of twisted lies and falsifications - only aim to manipulate public opinion into believing that the government of Costas Karamanlis is responsible (to a certain extent) for the debt crisis that crippled our national economy over the last few years and at the same time take away all of the responsibility from PASOK for the massive borrowing it did in the 80s and 90s and for bloating the over sized public sector we now have today.
In fact the authors of this disgusting pack of lies have gone as far as blaming Karamanlis, as well as his former finance ministers George Alogoskoufis and Yannis Papathanasiou, for everything but the kitchen sink as far as the economic crisis is concerned. And if that isn't enough, they also -and without any morality- strike a few blows against Karamanlis' former Minister of Interior Prokopis Pavlopoulos just to make the story more tantalizing.
Let us repeat, "green parrots" routinely manipulate public opinion into believing that PASOK has nothing to feel ashamed of for leading this country into the arms of the Troika. They also try to "educate" us everyday that PASOK has no skeletons in its closet, and that the socialists are the only ones that can actually save the country, when we all know that they hold the largest responsibility for destroying it.
How twisted is that?
Unfortunately this time, the "cartels" -which PASOK has been protecting, profiting from and sucking up for years- counted their chickens before they were hatched. Their propaganda hit a brick wall. They are not at odds with a couple of ministers anymore on some cheesy nigh time news show, but this time they are up against hundreds of thousands of supporters of Karamanlis who have over the last three years banded together with a soul mission to defend the truth.
If they think that by spreading vicious lies they will trigger Karamanlis into reacting then they really do not comprehend his philosophy, they do not know what kind of power we have and finally they should get set for a rhetoric war. Karamanlis' supporters will never allow him to speak on the agendas they dictate because we know that they will swoop down and finish off what they began once he does. They also know what we all know... That he is still the only force that can shatter all of them to pieces!
This time... It is just not going to work.
They first have to face US the PEOPLE.
It is our time to speak!
They kept us in silence and in fear for too long. It is our time to lay the cards on the table. The truth must be told about the damned Greek economy because lies will always remain lies, but numbers, official data and reports will always be the TRUTH. And data, much like history, cannot be challenged, cannot be interpreted and it most certainly cannot be ignored!
So here goes: In 2004 PASOK left a total debt of 184,514.30 billion euros and maturing bonds: Interest on the debts that were generated by the PASOK governments and unfortunately paid by the conservative government of Costas Karamanlis were: In 2004 9.464 billion euros, in 2005 9.774 billion euros, in 2006 9.589 billion euros, in 2007 9.750 billion euros, in 2008 10.500 billion euros.
On top of this Karamanlis also inherited the more than 10 billion euros from PASOK's controversial armaments program (which today is being investigated by authorities), the scandalous and excessive debts from the Athens 2004 Olympic Games and last but not least Costas Simitis 2001 SWAP with Goldman Sachs of some 5 billion euros.
Now that you are starting to get a better picture of things keep in mind that expenditures on interest rates do not drop because some buffoons at PASOK say that they do. Only an IDIOT could claim that because a government bond was 5% in 2003 for example, and was paid at that interest that year, it was also the same for all previous years. In other words, PASOK-ers literally believe that the interest rates on the loans that were made during the socialist's time in governance, -and there were a lot of them- remained at 5% and never rose!
So before we are accused of being anti-PASOK which we are, let us look at the FACTS and then you can all judge for yourselves on who is more responsible about the current state of the Greek economy.
FACT - When PASOK came to power in 1981, it received an economy with public debt 32.8% of GDP!
FACT - When PASOK lost to the New Democracy Party in 1989, the Greek deficit had already reached 14.3% and the national debt was at 61.5% of the GDP. In other words, the socialists, or PASOK, more than doubled the national debt - all this within only eight years of rule under the Andreas Papandreou government. (Imagine how these numbers mounted when the large works began to take place around the country and how high they reached with the pricey Athens 2004 Olympic Games).
But the buck does not stop there. The truth gets even uglier. Before PASOK fell out of power -or in 1989-, it had given state debt guarantees to local authorities and public utility companies, which several years down the road forced the Greek national debt to reach an astronomical 100% of the GDP.
Some can confirm this by googling the press reports at the time and specifically when the Coalition Government of Zolotas could not find the sufficient funds needed in order to pay public sector wages and pensions. All thanks to eight years of rule from Andreas Papandreou!
Fast forward now to the period 2004-2009 and Karamanlis' rule. According to the opinion piece, which was baptized as a report, the Karamanlis government apparently generated a further 100 billion in debt. This is slightly true, but what the opinion piece fails to explain is how and why this debt was generated. So here is the truth:
During the period 2004 - 2009 the Greek State paid:
- 62 billion euros in interest from previous loans (mostly generated by both the Andreas Papandreou and Costas Simitis PASOK governments)!
- The conservatives were also forced to pay10 billion euros in payments which were never recorded in State budgets that were drafted from the Simitis government periods 1996 to 2004!
- The conservatives were forced to pay almost15 Billion in commissions to the armed forces from decisions that were taken from previous PASOK governments.
- The conservatives were forces to pay 6 Billion euros to the hospitals as well that were never paid by the PASOK governments. In fact the EU drafted a legislation in 2004 to legalize the balance sheets of hospitals so that this 6 billion can be paid.
Obviously the debt which sent Greece into an economic hurricane was not the fault of Costas Karamanlis.
C'mon, add it up yourselves....
Frappers, Costas Simitis and his PASOK party not only generated a HUGE debt before falling out of power in 2004, but they also made sure to collect prepayment of future state revenues and as such deprived this revenue from ever being absorbed by future governments! (They also secretly desired that the economy would blow up in Karamanlis' hands so that they could rise to power again as the saviors! In fact we believe that they even planned it this way.)
Let us explain by listing some examples:
- According to article 14 of Law 2801 of 2000, PASOK received prepayment of future revenue of 4 billion Euros.
- On December 13, 2001, PASOK granted a right to prepayment of 355 million euros to the offshore company "Aeolos" from the Community Support Funds (CSF) until 2009!
- In 2000 the PASOK government of Simitis received prepayment of revenues from the state lottery worth more than 650 million euros.
- The PASOK government of Costas Simtis also received prepayment of future revenues from the 3rd CSF program worth more than 2 billion euros!
As for the public sector hirings. This indeed is a joke as well. New Democracy, and especially the Karamanlis government, was accused of making tens of thousands of public sector hirings and some may recall George Papandreou accusing Karamanlis of creating a "blue" state in some pre-election speeches in 2009. What a crock of sh***t. PASOK forgets that for years it held more 100,000 short-term contract workers as hostage in the public sector. It was the same story every election period: "Vote for us, and we will make you a permanent public sector worker." Of course PASOK never did and these people were literally held as hostages. Google the stories of that period for yourselves...
Don't take our word for it, go over the EU decisions for yourselves.
When Karamanlis came to power, the EU forced his government to place at least 80 percent of these workers in the public sector permanently, because their rights were being violated. And he did.
Unfortunately old dogs do not learn new tricks, most of these workers returned to PASOK and some of them still support the party till this day! Those who work for the public sector know very well that the unions that represent most of the public sector workforce are -till this day- governed by PASOK unionists. And we ask... If there were so many hirings made by Karamanlis' government -and if he had truely created a Blue State- then why hasn't the power shifted in the unions, and why hasn't a conservative unionist ever been appointed to a high ranking post? Simple common sense will give you the answer.
But of course the "cartels", overlook such facts and stick to what they know best and that is PROPAGANDA.
They rushed to slam Karamanlis right after a party congress because they know, and fear, that he can still give Greeks an alternative form of governance that would weaken their privileged lives. They are afraid that with Karamanlis the citizens in Greece can once again have HOPE instead of feeling helpless and powerless.
They just never banked on the fact that Karamanlis' supporters were well prepared.
But wait, we saved the best for last. Aside from slinging mud at a great leader, and not expecting to receive it in return from all of his supporters, these same "cartels" also want Greek citizens to believe that under the Simitis government Greece enjoyed primary surpluses! LOL.... Also they claim that when Andreas Papandreou was getting set to be reelected in 1984 he had even balanced the budget.
If that is not a joke, then we do not know what is!
So now you know the facts, and you can judge for yourselves. But if you believe that Andreas balanced the budget, or that Simitis generated surpluses, then we have some swamp land in Florida that is up for grabs. Are you interested?
Combined reports (HellasFrappe, ANA/MPA, etc)
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