All the issues of current affairs were discussed on SKAI by Kostis Hatzidakis.
“When you have 13 members of parliament asking for their immunity to be waived so that the case can be investigated by Justice and not to leave any shadows, I don’t understand why another MP should say no,”said, speaking to SKAI the deputy prime minister Kostis Hatzidakis, describing what happened yesterday in the Parliament as self-evident.
“I think that those who attended the Parliament understood that my colleagues have very strong arguments, in my opinion. I think that in the process several cases will be filed. But there are institutions and an independent judiciary, the government does not decide,”he said.
Asked whether the European Public Prosecutor’s Office is doing its job properly or playing political games, Mr. Hatzidakis replied that the Justice Department operates in all countries in a certain way, expressing the government’s full respect for all procedures. “What Mr Florides told Ms Kovesi is that these cases should proceed, not only because they concern 11 MPs, but also the political life of the country as a whole. It needs to be clarified how the process in this matter will proceed.”
“We never ruled out that there could be more measures”
Then the discussion revolved around the package of new support measures announced yesterday by the prime minister, with the deputy prime minister stating that the announcement of the measures was synchronized with the announcement of the surplus by Eurostat, as was the case last year. “As the finance ministry has made clear, there is also 200 million set aside in case they are needed due to any developments in relation to the crisis, he noted.
Responding to opposition criticism of the opposition for diverting public attention from corruption cases, Mr. Hatzidakis stressed:
“At the beginning of the crisis we proceeded on the basis of the first estimates and like good landlords we gave a 1st instalment, without since then excluding that there may be more measures. There are our statements, it is not something I am inventing now. The opposition says something like “why didn’t you give three or five times as much”Is there a government in the whole world that can give more money and not give more money? Ythere are specific fiscal rules that tell you up to what point you can distribute your surplus and up to what point the remainder is available for debt reduction.”
“Would we have had housekeeping in previous years if we hadn’t had tax cuts, operating expense restraint? We have cut 83 taxes, we have told them. On the one hand, we have growth above the European average and on the other hand, we have measures from the reduction of tax evasion that are working,”he said.
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