Elections 2023 – Kyriakos Mitsotakis: Interview with Nikos Evangeliato and “Live News”

Three days before the June 25, 2023 elections, Kyriakos Mitsotakis gave an interview to Nikos Evangelato and the “Live News” program.

“After the election, I am preparing a high-level advisory panel on artificial intelligence. We have great scientists, people in the field of technology… It is the responsibility of governments to control this tool and use it for the benefit of citizens,” he said at the beginning, when he met with Barack Obama at the Stavros. Niarchos Foundation.

“Citizens should go to the polls again and I will be very happy if participation increases. I will stress the need to tone down,” he said of the June 25 election.

“Salaries are low in our country. I recognize that,” he later said. “The minimum wage will reach 950 euros over a four-year horizon.”

“Pensioners will see a new increase in 2024, even those who have broken the personal distinction,” he said, referring to pensioners, adding, “We have pledged to increase the tax-free allowance by 1,000 euros.”

“Citizens will see no tax increases, and no tax cuts,” he said characteristically. “My goal is to be able to consider permanent tax cuts in the second half of the quadrennial.”

When asked about recruitment in the NHS, he explained, “Our aim is to gradually increase the number of staff in health. Everyone knows there is a need to recruit. We have a shortage, particularly in nursing. A major structural reform is the way recruitment procedures are done and they will be faster.”

What we want is to provide job security and know that we are hiring the right person for the right position. The reform of the NHS is a private race”.

Commenting on private universities, he said, “Universities may be private, but with strict standards and state control. Until we got there, all the emphasis was on the public university. We were able to get the bullies out of the universities.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis said, “Under no circumstances will water be privatized. Besides, why didn’t I do it all these years? The government will return EYDAP and EYATH to state control. I don’t expect Mr. Tsipras to apologize to us for what he said”.

When asked about the structure of the new government: “I talked about the need to split a part of the Ministry of Labor and create a new Ministry of Family and Social Cohesion so that this very important policy item would be owned in the Council of Ministers. condition.

The ministry is already planning and ready, because you know – if the Greek people believe us – these presidential decrees must be issued immediately, because the government took office very quickly. I also believe that portfolio…

Ministry of Sports will be transferred to Ministry of Education and I believe it should be at Deputy Minister level because it is a completely independent subject and sports is very important. From there there will be a series of…

Ministry of Transport – Infrastructure will remain intact with an independent transport portfolio. These ideas are very compatible and I do not want to create an inflation of new ministries because that is also a difficulty.

We created some new ministries and I believe they paid off. Let me remind you that the Ministry of Digital Governance was created immediately after we assumed charge in 2019. I believe it has proven to be a ministry of immense utility. Department of Immigration and Asylum, you see how important this is, especially now that immigration issues have come to the fore again. Ministry of Civil Defence.

All of these are essentially newly formed ministries – small ministries – but because we were able to form them anew, we created structures that were not captive to the old bureaucratic anchors.

He later clarified that the new government would take office with speedy procedures: “You know, in Greece, unlike presidential systems where the new president usually has a few months to prepare, the parliamentary system in Greece requires the government to take office immediately, Tuesday, Wednesday, so that’s not a problem. . Governments take office immediately after being declared and having a parliamentary majority. Let me tell you: for me this is not a sign of arrogance, but a sign of good preparation, of being ready for this event.

But I must tell you that we have learned lessons from the functioning of the Workers’ State. We know what we want to improve. At the Prime Minister’s Office level, we know how important coordination is, especially for these horizontal policies”.

Referring to the Muslim minority and the Turkish Embassy’s interference with candidates in Rodoby, Kyriakos Mitsotakis emphasized: “Meddling in another country’s internal affairs is unthinkable, especially with the scale and intensity of these elections. As these headlines hit the news, I want to remind you – as you have highlighted – of our own initiative. No. I want to emphasize this, it came from the initiative of the Syriza executives, who first talked about the way the Syriza executives moved and the close relations with the Turkish embassy.

I regret that this matter was not covered in a very clear manner, which is nothing more than making a very simple statement that we respect the Lausanne Treaty and that they basically represent the Muslim minority.

They chose not to, and it was a risk the next day. I hope to be rejected, I hope so. But my message is Mr. Not so much for Tsipras, Mr. Let Tsipras do whatever he thinks, whatever God enlightens him to do.

My own message, and the reason why I spoke publicly about this matter, was precisely with Turkey: here a serious interference in the internal affairs of another country was detected, which must be stopped.

Watch the interview with the New Democratic Party leader