“PASOK has expelled Akis from its body”

PASOK has expelled Tsohatzopoulos from its body, removed him from its ranks." With this phrase PASOK President Evangelos Venizelos gave an answer to the criticism of ND, currently focused on Akis Tsochatzopoulos' arrest.

 

Speaking to prospective Attica MPs, the PASOK president also said that personal criminal liability is a different issue from party and government responsibility, and that the attitude of political parties would have been different, "if we knew in 2005 the information that came out later on."

 

Venizelos said that the information on the submarines came from the investigation and through the Vatopedi scandal, and that "we have nothing to hide or conceal."

 

He said everything will be judged on May 6, “that is, if the country has a government”, and considered that Greece has already traveled down the majority of the route.

 

Regarding the day after the elections, he said that often people say that in democracy there are no dead ends, but this is something procedural.

 

"When the people choose a political dead end, there is no easy way of reparation. We have achieved an impressive fiscal adjustment."

 

Speaking about what has already happened, he said that what PASOK did had to be done at great cost to reach the limits of the representative system and that "we must say that what we have done was the result of a specific restructuring plan."

 

The aim of PASOK, Venizelos said, is to win the elections. If PASOK is not the top party, then the country is in danger of anarchy, he added. "Political self-reliance, as understood by ND, is contrary to common sense," he said.

 

He also spoke about the new measures of 11 billion euros by 2014, on which the country has to decide in June.

 

Referring to his conversation with Barroso on Monday, he said they discussed the safety net for vulnerable groups such as young people, the unemployed and indebted households.

 

"If we actually do the things we talk about, we can ensure that we will not need other horizontal cuts," he said, but added that there is a need for political and financial stability and a different social climate, and this will happen only if PASOK is the top party and if its president is a mandated PM.

 

He launched an attack on ND, saying that the crisis was not created in 2009, "despite those mistakes we made in managing the crisis." He added that the crisis had settled for good at least since 2007 and Samaras admitted that the deficit had reached 15.8%.

Lastly, he drew the attention of the candidates by saying that "it is important to listen to the world, but also to speak ourselves", and that the main issue is the assumption of responsibilities for the future of the country.