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Alexis Tsipras: Greece Is and Remains a Safe Destination

Tsipras
Greece is and remains a safe destination and this must be Parliament’s message to those choosing to spend their holidays in the country, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said on Wednesday. Addressing MPs during a debate on security requested by main opposition New Democracy, Tsipras praised ND leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis for ending his own address in Parliament on this note but criticized the decision to call for a debate on security in the first place, accusing the main opposition leader of “fishing in the murky waters of the far right.”
“This is the first debate that [Mitsotakis] has asked to be held in Parliament. ND did not ask for a debate on the economy, the refugee problem, unemployment, pensions or the country’s growth prospects. I do not underestimate the issue [of security] but I wonder…What does this initiative seek to achieve; my question is rhetorical because the motives are clear,” Tsipras noted.
A linking of citizens’ security with the refugee crisis “was the argument of the most reactionary forces in Europe. The position of those raising walls in Europe,” Tsipras added, noting that ND was a adopting a xenophobic line.
Replying to Mitsotakis, he said the ND leader’s address was a “monument to danger and doom-mongering” and rejected all suggestion of a relationship between the Left and terrorism, stressing that leftists do not have and have never had relations with anti-establishment and other groups “that do not respect the value of human life.”
The prime minister also replied to criticism regarding the ongoing negotiations to conclude the first review of the Greek program, saying “ND should not bet all its money on the government’s failure.” Replying to other center-left opposition leaders, namely PASOK’s Fofi Gennimata and Potami’s Stavros Theodorakis, he urged them to take stock of what was happening in Europe and support the government “because there can’t be a center-left without a left.”
The review will be completed and the figures due to be released by Eurostat on Thursday will show that there is no basis for ND’s claim that the SYRIZA-ANEL government’s negotiation “destroyed” the economy, Tsipras said. He pointed to Wednesday’s interview given by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, who said that there was no need for emergency measures for Greece and challenged ND to state its own position at the “difficult turning point.”
Tsipras attributed the better-than-expected results to an increase in tourism and the government’s decision to vote the 100-installment settlement schemes for debts to the state, as well as the 98% absorption of EU funds that injected five billion euros in the Greek market.
Wrapping up the debate, he said the message emerging from the discussion in Parliament was that Greece remains a safe country, with a culture of deeply held universal human values that the Greek people had demonstrated during the unprecedented refugee crisis, opening up their arms to welcome what was different and allowing solidarity and humanity to prevail.
Source: ANA MPA

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