“We want to make a change, which aims to reduce the suffering of the citizens and to enhance participation in a round. The core of the bill to be tabled in Parliament is a municipal election in a round, “the Deputy Minister of State said and the Prime Minister and a government spokesman Paul Marinakis Speaking to PARAPOLITICS 90.1, about the change of electoral law in the local elections. “We want to do it three and a half years before municipal and regional so that there is all time to inform the self -governing or potential participants of the process. All this institutional framework began to be discussed mainly at the level of self -government by Interior Minister Theodore Lebanese with the KEDE meeting a few months ago and in the coming weeks all this will unfold so that the required dialogue and parties and public consultation. “
He explained that “when the government, like all autonomous governments, bring a bill to the House Committees after initially passing by a cabinet and consultation, the aim is to vote on the bill. But governments are open, and especially ours has proven this, in meaningful and costly proposals – this is not what we are not talking about, in serious proposals – in serious proposals. This is how democracies work. We also expect from the parties obviously from both self -governing and civil society serious proposals.
In any case, we will vote for an electoral law on self -government. There will be one round of the elections, we will see them in practice. Citizens will virtually make a second option from the first round so that they do not have to come back. Essentially what we would call, you, all, to do if we vote in a municipality that does not come out of the first round, we will have done so before so that we will not be suffering again and of course save money, “he said.
Concerning the electoral law, Mr Marinakis pointed out that “the prime minister, as in the first four years, has decided to be original or at all an exception to a rule of several of his predecessors who were saying and others doing so – not to have them. So he has said when he passed the electoral law a few months after his election in 2019 that we will move on with this electoral law. With this electoral law we marched in the second elections of 2023 – because the former had not been implemented, the simple proportional with the results we saw later – and the right thing to do is not to change them and to go through the rules you yourself have voted. So there is no question of changing electoral law. “
He then said that self -reliance is a goal. “But at the moment we have no elections so I think it is a little timeless and timeless basically and is not about society at this time this debate. It is a very serious debate that will begin to take place when the time of the pre -election period comes. ” He added: “The self -reliance or the end of all the outcome is in the hands of only the Greek people, the Greek citizens. But we do not believe in cooperation governments, and this belief is not only confirmed by the Greek reality of recent years and decades, and is confirmed by the broader reality, European reality. “
Crime treatment was the next topic of debate. “The effort by the Greek Police in recent years is an effort – based on official elements – that condenses actions that have not been done in Greece for decades and have been done in a few years. If you look at the elements in individual manifestations of crime, for example, such as occupations in universities in a country where each city had a occupation at a university and now has no active occupation, in the treatment of domestic violence and with extreme incidents, which we have only 20,000. Violence on the stadiums where with very difficult measures that almost everyone has questioned – and rightly so – when we announced them, they have been implemented and the situation has changed dramatically. The heavy crime, such as the one you have described to me, only in the last five months by the new police service, the Organized Crime Management Department has solved 48 major criminal organizations. All this shows that there is now a state in which ” law and order ”, which for me is not a right doctrine nor even a doctrine, is a self -evident prerequisite for having democracy and to shield our democracy, from a promise without an impact, “he said.
He also said about criminal organizations that “it is obviously a problem, but anyone who claims by the political system that he can press a button and eliminate crime in any state in the world, then fools the world. We have decided to politicize with the truth and with the assumptions of problems. The current situation in the country on the basis of what I told you much more, namely the 48 criminal organizations that have been disliked by the new management of ELAS is what we call heavy crime. Heavy crime and incidents we are discussing now, criminal activity as we are now discussing, but also very severe crime at the level of corruption on public officials, government officials, large circuits, drug trafficking. It is a given that whatever the successes are, there will be some who insist on criminating. So this is a daily battle that we have to give. “
He said in detail that “we are moving in two directions: I repeat, as much as possible and abolish criminal organizations. Obviously some will continue to act, here we are as much as possible. And the second, another criminal code. Let me remind you that in this country, in 2019, just before the election – I do not do it compared to, it is not a comparison with SYRIZA, because if you look at 5% you are probably lower, to God, the bar of this government is not so low – a criminal code was voted on. One of the reasons, then, we saw an outburst is because the most lenient law always applies, because until the changes are passed, I speak to you as a lawyer, from us, all of those in and out of prison criminals, knew that they would benefit from the most important law. At that time, penalties were reduced to all crimes, even for crimes against sexual freedom. There are now criminal codes, there is a criminal code with the changes we made, which were three consecutive and some more interventions by Mr Floridis, where the jokes are over. Anyone who decides to commit heavy crimes will not be released, even in half of his sentence, and the rules are respected. “
He also referred to policing in the neighborhoods, noting that “therefore, more police officers are needed, especially in areas with increased crime. The number has improved because some important decisions have been taken in recent years, several police officers have left, I think just over 2000 – Mr Chrysochoidis has said – from guarding persons and went to police stations and combat services. All newly appointed police officers go to the basin because it is 70% of crime. So the answer to your question is: The situation is better, but not the one required. They need, yes, more and more police officers in the neighborhoods. “
Called to respond to Greek -Turkish and spatial planning on the occasion of Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s statements on the cable, he said: “There are two different issues. I start with the second you set, the cable. It is true that we have said to date. It is a design issue. What the Foreign Minister has said is in full, nothing has changed. “
Especially for the time of the cable to be raised, he pointed out that “the Minister of Foreign Affairs has been in detail. It also has to do with technical issues of the company. It is not a matter of leave nor is it a license.
(If we are talking about after 2025): We are not talking about longer. To come back to the original subject. Unfortunately, this is a phenomenon not only Greek but European and worldwide, on many real problems of society some in our country have specifically invested in the pain and anxieties and difficulties of citizens by putting a lot of pseudo -patriotism on top. And this mixture, this “political cocktail” with a cohesive element of populism, was a great deal of poll. So against this logic, Kyriakos Mitsotakis personally and as a whole, the government decided to raise Greece by actions. Like the expansion to 12 nautical miles in the Ionian Sea, the agreements with Egypt and Italy and of course this action that took place in previous weeks with maritime spatial planning, where its value is high. Not only at Greek but also at European level. Because this is with Europe’s “bullet”. This is the different and the very important. “
In closing, he talked about Turkey’s stance, stressing that the Greek side believes in dialogue with the neighboring country. “We believe that this prolonged phase of dialogue with Turkey has given both countries. It has also attributed to the annihilation of inputs, the challenges of dealing with immigration and to the reduction of even annihilation of violations and to the reception of legal tourists rather than illegal immigrants. All this is positive. But dialogue does not mean agreement. Does not mean retreat. Dialogue means claiming. We say in all the tones, something that all the Greek governments have served before us and I am sure that the next by our own government will do it that it is given that with Turkey only one difference separates us: the determination of EEZ and continental. Neither this government is never going to – as no other government did before us – to retreat to any red lines, what we call issues of sovereignty. Beyond that, Turkey has its views, it has its positions, we have heard them many times, we have heard them in the days of previous governments. It matters what you do. It matters how you strengthen your country. Both Greece, both at the diplomatic level and at the level of agreements and at the level of official texts and agreements and at the equipment level, is stronger than ever. “