Dora Bakoyannis commented on the diversification of the five MEPs of the New Democracy.
On Thursday, Dora Bakoyannis took a stand on the issue of the letter from the five “blue” MPs, who expressed their reservations about the current model of the executive state. Speaking on ERT radio, the experienced politician referred to the intra-party frictions that emerged after the recent urging of the prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, to members of the Parliamentary Group to strictly observe the distinct roles between the legislative and executive branches of government.
Asked about whether MPs can make political judgments, Bakoyannis said. For God’s sake, did the Prime Minister ever say such a thing? Not even close. The Kyriakos Mitsotakis is elected Prime Minister by this Parliamentary Group, it means that a healthy dialogue has been opened, in my opinion, healthy, to discuss our own affairs and we will discuss them in the Parliamentary Group, we will discuss them at the Conference.
And we will see if there is room for improvement, correction; where there are good texts, bravo hooray, where there are weaknesses we will try to identify them and reduce them. We are a large democratic party. I am incredibly disturbed by the “guerrilla” logic. What rebels? Rebels because they have opinion? For goodness sake. This is Europe we live in today.
MEPs, that’s their role. It is one thing to be executive and another to be parliamentary. The parliamentary function supports the executive, because without our vote there is nothing. So, Kyriakos Mitsotakis knows this very well and all the ministers know this very well. So if there is room for improvement, let’s find it.
What is this thing that has opened up a discussion about mutiny and mayhem in New Democracy? Funny stuff. I’ve been in the New Republic for thirty-five years. Thirty-five years of chatting, thirty-five years of criticism, thirty-five years of looking to improve and we ought to improve. Where we can improve we must improve. (…)
This dialogue will continue. I mean, I’m saying that these labels that we’re trying to stick on… okay, you’ve known me for many, many years and you know my views on internal democracy very well. Internal party democracy is, in my opinion, enforced and democratic dialogue is required. And if for so many years it has not existed, it was a weakness.
There must be a substantial dialogue and the views of all must be heard. Someone always has something to say. You know, my father used to say to me once when I was a very young young MP-I thought I became an MP and I became something-and my father used to say to me that: “My child, the first and basic principle is listen, listen to the world. Listen to what they tell you.” He was right. Well, we ought to listen to each other.”
Relating to high tones used on the borders of toxicity in the political scene, responding to whether the situation is worrying in terms of the broader stability of the political system, Ms. Bakoyannis stressed: “It makes me very sad, because once in this country we have to know what we say and what the words we use mean. Because, the word mafia and the word gang have a very specific meaning and one only has to open up the Babiniotis dictionary and see what they mean.
For an elected government to say such words, as much as there needs to be some boost to opposition figures, you can make harsh criticism while maintaining political culture. You have never, ever, in all these years, heard me use such characterizations of any of my opponents.
I was at the Conference of Presidents today. I have to tell you that every time I say that I am too old to be surprised anymore.
It is unbelievable. There has been an attack by Ms Konstantopoulou on Mr Dudonis. Mr Dudonis expressed the view of PASOK. That is his right. He is an opposition, he chooses to be a politician. He took such a high tone that really all the rest of us, because there were many of us in the Conference of Presidents, were left with our mouths hanging open.
The result of this story is aversion to politics. This is a damage to democracy. Because, there is no other way to govern a country than parliamentary democracy, at least in my opinion. There are those who say we’ll have a junta and rule. Well, in my opinion, there is no other way than parliamentary democracy. So to shoot at parliamentarianism and democracy, to see right now this kind of behavior… I mean, if you’re an 18 year old kid, what are you going to do? You’re going to turn your back,” Ms. Bakoyannis commented that the acceleration in inflation is both expected and very, very worrying.
“I was looking at international oil prices today. Unfortunately, what we’re seeing is that it’s not showing up, at least as we speak – with Trump no one knows, there may be some surprise – but as we speak there doesn’t seem to be a ray of light, despite the fact that they’re saying that on Friday there will be a new Iranian proposal. Hopefully this new Iranian proposal is one that Trump can accept, and especially hopefully the Straits will be opened.
I don’t know if our listener realizes the magnitude of the problem right now, but the problem is huge. I mean, yesterday here I had the opportunity to see the Qatari Minister of State, who was explaining to us the size of the problem in Qatar. They need three years, he says, before they can get their gas plants up and running again and get to the level they were at before the war.
The problem is not just the Gulf countries. It’s what it means for us that there is less oil. What it means to us that there is less fertilizer, what it means to us is that countries will farm less. In other words, Fon der Leyen is sounding the alarm today. She says that this story is costing us 500 million euros a day. In other words, we are in such a state of international turmoil that one really wishes – because there is nothing one can do – that simple logic and the global interest would finally work. Because that’s what we are talking about,” she said.
As for the constant criticism by opposition parties of the government’s refusal to reduce the Special Consumption Tax, Ms. Bakoyianni replied that our country is the one that has given 500 million, a total of 800 million at this time, aid to citizens.
“Compared to other European countries we are one in five and in terms of our GDP we are the first. In other words, we have given more than any other European country to support the income of Greeks. So let us not get carried away. Let us not be under any illusions. When the barrel goes to 120, 130 or possibly 170 euros, there is no way we can get out unscathed.
There is no way. The formula of “cut the tax” so that I can cut costs is an extremely temporary thing. So it will come back to you the same thing. So let’s not be under any illusions. There are no magic solutions. What there is is the possibility, thanks to the sacrifices of the Greek people and the economy which is standing on its feet, that we can ease, reduce the burden on those who need it most. Because not all Greeks need it the same. There are people who need it more and people who need it less.
We are in a war. My generation, which went through Europe’s period of prosperity, did not face such contingencies and that is why the start for all European societies is terribly abrupt. It is out of our logic. We did not have that logic. We did not know this thing. There are other societies that lived with this sense of war. Take Lebanon, for example. In Europe, for us it was an unknown thing, and now we’re getting it in the head. That’s the reality,” he added.
