Vassilis Spanakis: From the next elections, mayors and regional governors will be elected on the first Sunday

As he explained, if the candidate candidate for mayor or candidate for regional mayor exceeds the threshold that will be set – and which will be announced – that is where the process will end, the 51% threshold will no longer be needed to be elected.

This is a real reform that has been implemented in other countries with great success, Spanakis said, stressing that by saving the cost of the second Sunday – which “has a much higher abstention rate,” he said – the Greek taxpayer will also save money that will go to projects in local communities.

At the same time,Spanakis pointed out that funds for fire protection have increased by 171%. That is, municipalities and associations got 50 million this year for fire protection measures (branch removal, clean-ups, personal equipment), when that allocation was about 17-18 million, he said.

On this occasion, Spanakis reminded that the deadline for gross plots is June 15. He stressed that the municipalities are 100% on board, saying that “it is good to finish early” and that we should not let the weather with its humidity and periodic rains distract us from the goal, which is, “to reduce the hot spots where we have fires and have land clearing because we don’t want the spread of fire.”

Asked if he had any insight into the gross plots of land, Spanakis said the number is at a low level – “last year it went over 750,000 – but every day the number of declarations is multiplying.”

“But it is good, and through your show it is a good opportunity to say it, that the clearing of plots of land is done quickly to facilitate the work of the local government and the work of the Ministry responsible,” Mr. Spanakis.

Asked to answer why the Southwest is attacking the president of PASOK, Nikos Androulakis, Spanakis was adamant, noting that it is not an attack but a description of reality.

“Where did you see the attack? When we say what is the reality… I mean, first of all, I, if you like and because of a previous capacity, when you start to make a tax return, the basis of the tax return is last year and the year before. That is, how you put last year’s in, you go and do this year’s. And you forget a million? Now I leave that to the judgment of our viewers,” Spanakis said, stressing that “those who come and talk about growth rates, about the Greek economy, about how a citizen goes through, well, they have [money] in foreign banks and they come and say ‘let’s tax, let’s do, let’s show’.”

“Let me remind you that it was PASOK that accused us because we brought the 800,000 euro tax-free parental allowance. Let me remind you that this tax-free allowance enabled the grandfather to give to the grandson, the grandmother to give to the daughter, [we wanted] to enable us to support the transfer of Greek property without tax, with a tax incentive. So these people come and have a million abroad. This is the reality,” Spanaki reiterated, who also commented on Adonis Georgiadis‘s statement today to ERTnews about a property that the PASOK president has been renting to the state for many years.

“In my opinion, I believe it is legal,” Spanakis first clarified, then clarified, “But wait a minute, on some political issues… First, he collects it [the rent money] himself. Second, the State when it started, it went to expense, mind you the State itself, to bring the building into shape. So these are issues that I think will be addressed,” Spanakis said, adding that “I never liked personal confrontation. Never. And if you like, I like political confrontation. But here we are talking about a mentality of PASOK, a mentality of yesterday, from which we have left and now we are moving forward.”

“Because New Democracy, which today has more than double the percentage in all the polls, has a propositional discourse.
It talks about wage increases, it talks about pension increases, it talks about tax cuts, it talks about new jobs, it talks about new investments, it talks about geographical development. When we have over 6.5 billion projects across the country, for local communities, for today,” Spanakis continued, stressing that “we will not leave any corner of the country without saying what we have done over the years, without stopping this mud-slinging that the opposition parties are doing, this populism. We are facing a populism which is below the belt, but you should know that we will win this election battle as well.”

Speaking about the upcoming 16th Ordinary Congress of the ND, Mr. Spanakis spoke of a “historic congress” and a “historic victory of the New Democracy”, as “to date, no party in Greece and in Europe has managed to achieve a third electoral victory.”

“It is a great comparative advantage of the country to have a one-party government. Yes, gentlemen, we have 100% of the responsibility, but we have a concrete proposal. We want this proposal to be trusted by citizens who had a different party and ideological starting point,” he said.

Finally, asked to comment on the fact that his name is being mentioned for party secretary, Mr. Spanakis said that “I am one of those who “whatever the president says, I always do it” and that “the New Democracy is my home.”

“With New Democracy we can shape a different Greece for our children. That is what we are fighting for right now. What is very important is that people who until yesterday voted for other parties and had a different ideological starting point are coming to New Democracy […] Now we have a common sense for tomorrow and we have to fight a big battle so that Greece, as Mitsotakis made it a pillar of stability in the wider region, we can develop it further and make changes that will benefit the Greek economy, Greek households and our children. Spanakis.

It is worth noting that starting the interview, the Deputy Minister of Interior congratulated the “GAP-NDFK that once again emerged as the leading force” in the student elections, saying that “it is very important through the student elections to see what are the issues that concern the student world, our youth. And the GAP-NDFK showed that it had a pro-presidential discourse for another year and this was reflected in yesterday’s student elections.”

As for the recent incidents that took place in the Universities, Mr. Spanakis said that “security plans for our universities have already been submitted, we still have more things to do to protect our universities and to stop this sanctuary of lawlessness this was also an election commitment in 23. We are implementing it, but we still have more work to do,” he observed.