The "Czar" is everyone's target

Twenty of PASOK’s parliamentary members are co-signing a question addressed to Minister of Finance George Papakonstantinou and Minister of Citizen Protection Christos Papoutsis, on the issue of drastic cuts in police officers’ operating costs.

The full text of the question reads: “The tidying up of the state finances because of the dire situation we have been led to by the New Democracy government, forced the Finance Ministry into the drastic reduction of operational expenditure of the Police forces, which - in our opinion - is unjustified. The fight to curb waste and excess must in no case lead to the deterioration of operational capability and reliability of Police units, which will in turn lead to inflated crime rates and citizen insecurity”.

“Cost savings in vehicle maintenance and damage repairs, the failure to supply fuel to power vehicles and heating services and, finally, the serious deficiencies in the coverage of consumable materials and personal protection of units such as Di.AS. will make Police’s programming and operational effectiveness problematic and will in any case affect the well-trained Police staff”.

“The Panhellenic Federation of Police Officers and several Police associations in Greece are protesting strongly, since a large number of Police patrol cars and motorbikes are out of commission, due to damage and a lack of repair capability… As to the above, we pose this question to the Ministers: What steps do they intend to take in order to strengthen the Greek police with the necessary resources for the normal, effective functioning of Police forces in order to restore its operational preparedness for citizens?”.

Members who co-signed the question are: Karidis Dimitrios, Giannakopoulou Constantina, Damianakis Eftihis, Kiriakopoulou Maria, Vlatis Ioannis, Oikonomou Athanasios, Katrinis Mihalis, Manolakis Aggelos, Moshopoulos Spiridon, Arvanitidis Georgios, Tsonoglou Vasiliki, Mihos Lambros, Mihelogiannakis Ioannis, Vouros Ioannis, Kefalidou Hara, Triandafilopoulos Andreas, Perlepe-Sifounaki Katerina, Oikonomou Pandelis, Skrafnaki Maria and Tolkas Aggelos.

At the same time, professional bodies' representatives have launched a harsh criticism on the new tax bill by the Finance Ministry, at the Economic Affairs Committee.

Characteristically, Mr. Vasilis Korkidis, president of the National Confederation of Greek Commerce (ESEE), stated that “we do not participate in the ‘I will not pay’, but in the ‘I pay and pay again’ movement”. Through whipping and beating no one can create consistent taxpayers, but instead will construct frightened individuals”.