Th. Dritsas in Parliament on police violence and Greek shipping (video)

Read the speech of Thodoris Dritsas, Minister of National Defence of the K.O. of SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance, at the Plenary Session of the Parliament, during the debate (Tuesday 06/12/2022) on the draft law of the Ministry of Finance «Incorporation into Greek legislation of Directive (EU) 2019/2235 - Ratification of the Additional Act to the New Agreement between the Greek State and the Maritime Community and tax arrangements for shipping - Urgent tax and customs arrangements - Institutional framework for the operation of the Central Unit for State Aid and the State Aid Network - Salary arrangements and other provisions».

The following is the speech of Mr.Dritsas from the uncorrected minutes of the Parliament.

THEODOROS DRITSA: Thank you, Mr President.

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is not the first time that MERA25 has made the mistake of making an easy criticism of SYRIZA, which is largely unfounded, without having a different strategy and a different political plan, strategically different, as the Communist Party of Greece has, which also makes easy criticisms of SYRIZA, but in any case much less and much more carefully. And not to do justice to PASOK, which has now gone off the deep end, has forgotten Greek history and has taken on SYRIZA.

Ladies and gentlemen, I will say a few things about shipping at the end. Today is St. Nicholas Day. It is a celebration of sailors and the Navy. A popular holiday for sailors, for islanders, for Piraeus. Good seas, good strength, happy birthday to the Greek sailors and the members of the Navy.

I'm paraphrasing a little bit the slogan that yesterday in Athens and Thessaloniki started to be heard very loudly: «It's not about the petrol, it's not about the money, they shot him because he is...», young me, «...and a Roma». Just as they did a year ago in Perama, just as Korkones murdered Alexander Grigoropoulos fourteen years ago. I hope that Kostas Fragoulis will live and will not be among the victims, like the two previous ones.

But finally, the problem is the leadership of the Ministry of Citizen Protection and the Greek Police.

Mr. Theodoricako, Mr. Economou, Mr. Chief of ELAS, where is the outright condemnation of the use of a gun for trivial reasons by an officer of the Greek Police? What is the message, right away, beyond an NDE, beyond anything? There is no doubt that this young Roma man committed the offence of not paying for the petrol he put in his car. And he was pursued by an officer, by a Greek police officer and with a gun! Is an investigation needed into this? Of course it needs an investigation into all the details, the data, the officer's condition and other issues. But the fact is indisputable and nothing else is needed but a message from the Greek state through the government, through the Prime Minister, through the Minister, through the Chief of the ELAS that ’No, guys, it doesn't work like that! The state did not give you the weapon to use it against young children and even with the added racism, against the Roma with any prejudice you may have«. I had experienced it then, too, and it seemed that evil was coming, approached by an intensifying racism against youth and their mobilizations. Korkoneas believed that he was cleaning up society by killing Alexander Grigoropoulos and that he was guarding order and legality. Others armed his hand. Those who are still accountable today, the current government and the current ministers, and they remain silent. It is unacceptable, it is criminal!

I'm going to the bill. Articles 1 to 5, which refer to the Community acquisition of goods by the Armed Forces and regulate exemptions from VAT and excise duties, are in the right direction for the benefit of the Greek public and the Greek state, but they are also poorly justified, lacking in clarity and without a framework in which they fit in. The Parliament's Scientific Committee has also pointed this out, at least with regard to some of the wording. But in any case, I am also commenting on it as a Defence Minister, with regard to a regulation that has nothing negative about it, but that is not how things are done. It is done in a much more serious way.

The second is the Skaramanga Shipyards. SYRIZA, almost all SYRIZA MPs, tabled an amendment with the general number 1508 and a specific number 221. It is not possible that this pending matter has been pending for more than ten years now, since the black era of remoulade and the collapse of the Skaramanga Shipyards! Not that the shipyard workers are satisfied. They are not satisfied. They are being blackmailed and, in fact, some of them, who really should be receiving and have no guarantee of re-employment, but also the one hundred and sixty former rolling stock workers, for whom over the years there have been some arrangements, some have been integrated into the Navy, some have been covered in various ways and some other cases too, are now being left in the lurch and will never get justice.

Is it possible not to take into account all this potential which is supposed to be useful if the shipyards are reopened, even if they have grown somewhat older?;

Then the regulation of Martino and the Greek Defence Systems is fragmentary, with ambiguity and without justification of the real feasibility, when, in relation to the defence industry and especially the Greek Defence Systems, there is a huge open question about what its future is, not the distant future, but the future of tomorrow, with all these measures, which I don't have time to say. What is the purpose of this regulation? Is it legitimate or illegitimate? You do not justify it.

I'm going into shipping and I'll be done, Mr President, in two minutes. It is true that the term «voluntary contribution» is a misnomer, and from one perspective I would indeed agree that it can be scandalous, but it is not non-binding. Whether it was called that for expediency to deal with a possible weakness regarding some constitutional arrangements and all that - anyone who knows things knows the historical origins of the name - is no excuse. Anyway up to a point it is that, but the taxation is not additional, it was from the memorandum years. It is additional, as much taxation as Greek shipowners have, and it is binding. We both increased it and all the officials of the Ministries, both governmental and departmental, we pushed and achieved a constant almost daily cooperation with the management of the Greek Shipowners’ Association and the Chamber of Shipping so that no one would escape from their obligations, at least in what was contractually agreed. However, this is indeed not the best way of taxing.

And here, precisely because this is a history of many decades, the post-war history of Greece, the reality and the pre-war history, but mainly the post-war history, from the 1952 Constitution and the subsequent constitutional arrangements and the Marshall Plan, Greek shipping, Greek-owned shipping was indeed favoured to the maximum.

Greek shipowners, Greek shipowners have for years wanted to present the maritime miracle as their own creation. No, it is the creation of the Greek State, i.e. the Greek people, of the Greek seafarers, i.e. the seafaring profession, and of the shipowners, most of whom, nevertheless, at that time started out as seafarers and were therefore able to ’sniff out« developments. Some of them even started out as mutsos and subsequently became big and strong. Now, most of them are offspring, descendants, somewhere far away, not coming to Greece and they are the banks.

So, the big debate that needs to take place in the Greek Parliament and in public life is: From now on Greek or just Greek-owned shipping? If it is just Greek-owned, nobody cares about public regulations. If it is Greek, it is of interest and we are all interested. And precisely because one cannot ignore the fact that it is the most extremely internationalised capital, long before the notorious globalisation...

PRESIDENT (Athanasios Bouras): Finish up, Mr. Kritsa, you're at twelve minutes.

THEODOROS DRITSA: I am coming to an end, Mr President, but I think these are identity issues. Just give me a moment.

So we need a collective labour agreement, not on ILO terms, for all seafarers, a Greek flag on the ships of Greek shipowners, a Piraeus Maritime Centre, which primarily means arbitration and much more in education and elsewhere, to see what Greek shipping and seamanship means. We have attempted and tried these things very systematically and with a great deal of pressure. I do not have the time to go into details.

I will end by saying that it is unfair that towboat and salvage owners, which is a very important and inward-looking sector, that is, it is part of the added value of the Greek economy and not internationalised, should be considered as not being regulated and excessively burdened in competition with others.

PRESIDENT (Athanasios Bouras): Please close.

THEODOROS DRITSA: Thank you very much.

It's an opportunity to say so many things and so we did.

Mr.Gregoriadis, we told Vestager that either you put Malta, Germany, Cyprus and all the famous flags of convenience on an equal footing in international competition or you don't play the German game, because that's what this whole thing was about and Germany succeeded, of course.