Alexis Tsipras: «The EFKA becomes a prey in the hands of a party caste»

A broad attack on the government regarding the privatizations and not just for the EFKA bill, which was debated on Thursday in Parliament, was introduced by the Alexis Tsipras, President of SYRIZA-PS, in his remarks to the Plenary.

Alexis Tsipras referred to «Blue Golden Boys» who have secured government positions with «exorbitant salaries,» accusing the government and the prime minister of wanting to «Less government for the citizen and more for party officials». «You want the state to be your private fiefdom. You want the state to feed you,» said Alexis Tsipras, going so far as to mention «a watered-down version of liberalism.».

In this context, he added that the public sector has been flooded «with temporary hires and blue-collar patronage,» emphasizing that it is not just the EFKA, but «the same thing» is happening at the Public Power Corporation (DEI) as well. «You have abolished meritocracy and transparency, opening the door to cronyism by abolishing the ASEP,» he noted, while referring in detail to the General Directorates of the Public Power Corporation (PPC), arguing that their number has risen from 7 in 2019 to 15 today, and from 27 directors in ’19, there are now 105, with 70 newcomers from the «market.» «PPC was your fiefdom, and you want to turn it back into one,» he commented, continuing: «You’ve turned it from a public utility into a company that benefits the blue-shirted »golden boys’ and private investors, who will profit at the expense of households, farmers, and small businesses, who see their bills and are shocked.”.

The leader of the official opposition also referred to «media reports» according to which PPC executives «palm themselves on for the company’s profitability,» while «households are being bled dry by their bills». He also complained that «The CEO of PPC »pockets 360,000 a year in bonuses'", that is, «four times as much» as the country’s prime minister. «Why should this gentleman worry about the rate hikes when a retiree receives 700 euros and the bill comes to 600?» he asked, and went on to mention the «special positions» that were created and the HEDNO for «political allies acting on orders from the Prime Minister's Office».

«While employees, retirees, and professionals are struggling, you're giving bonuses to yourselves and your children.», Alexis Tsipras emphasized, and he also denounced «pay raises for directors and general managers that exceed the cap of 4,650 euros per month,» as well as «A spree of arbitrary bonus payments, just a few days before the end of the year, so that the Board’s »blue boys’ can pocket the 100% in golden bonuses—up to 50% of their gross earnings, or up to 60,000 euros.”.

As for the price increases of Energy, the president of SYRIZA-PS wondered what the results of this strategy had been at PPC and HEDNO: «To plunge the country into energy poverty,» he emphasized, and reiterated that «For months, Greece has been the European leader in wholesale electricity prices.». «Society is suffering, but you say things are going well. Your neoliberal policies, if they were ever problematic, are now disastrous and dangerous.».

«The so-called »excellent« HEDNO was completely unprepared in Medea and Elpis! Tens of thousands of households went without power for five days. The »excellent« HEDNO, with its executives raking in hefty bonuses, didn’t even provide the correct data for the January subsidies, resulting in not all consumers receiving their discounts. »Even the Regulatory Authority for Energy (RAE) was forced to impose a fine of 250,000 euros for omitting tax identification numbers and customer contact information,” he added, citing as further examples the “hasty” phase-out of lignite “without a plan” and calling on the government to provide explanations regarding the complaint by the former director of the Public Power Corporation (PPC) that the organization “had committed itself to burning extremely expensive natural gas, thereby passing on exorbitant costs to consumers.”.

In closing, the president of SYRIZA-PS focused on the EFKA, drawing a parallel by stating that this bill is the «passport to the great feast of the blue party army and the state-dependent elites.».

Specifically, he referred to the pending pensions, arguing that while the government had promised during the election campaign that «pensions would be paid out in one day,» in the end, out of the 107,000 pending pension cases left by SYRIZA-PS, a decrease of 70% compared to the number it had inherited, the figure has once again reached 350,000.

«Remember when you called the 13th pension a pittance? One billion euros given to retirees every spring. What did you do, you who criticized us? You abolished it. And not only are you not allocating that money to other social needs, but you’re throwing it into the pot for the privatization of supplementary social security,» emphasized Alexis Tsipras, and continued by denouncing that «EFKA is becoming spoils in the hands of a partisan caste,» since «general directors will be appointed for three-year terms, while executives with years of prior service are being sidelined,» and job postings will be issued «not by the ASEP but in collaboration with the ASEP.».

«This provision not only harms the EFKA, but also opens a backdoor for the partisan state to take over the entire public sector. The well-known party favorites—whether they have degrees or not—will fill key positions with long-term contracts that will bind the next government as well,“ he commented, pledging that SYRIZA-PS ”will not play on that field.» «We will play on the field of meritocracy, not that of the party-state. We are committed to transparency, accountability, and meritocracy. Let’s sever the umbilical cord linking the party to the state,» he emphasized, concluding: «You don’t want a functional state but a corrupt, selective state, one that exists only where you want it to. We will build a social, humane, democratic state, with a progressive government—and the sooner it comes, the better for the people and the country.».