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Anastasia Balezdrova

The Pre-election period will end in 12 days. We will stop listening to the party theories and ideologies on television. They will stop talking about the money that they will give us, even though they do not have it; about the money, they will require. About contracts, they will cancel and renegotiate. On 18 June, there will be no more words and reality will come to the fore," Drasi’s leader Stefanos Manos said in his speech.

"Although other parties are silent about it, the signs are clear. What is happening with medicines is significant. The state continues to prefer to pay wages in the public enterprises three times higher than in the private sector rather than use part of the remaining funds to provide medicines, especially for cancer patients. This is not only unfair, it is immoral."

Stefanos Manos has said that after the elections, the Memorandum against which all other parties are murmuring will not be valid. "The Troika will come, will find out that nothing has been done and there will be a new memorandum that will be updated based on today's disastrous situation."

He pointed out that decisions in Europe are reached after extensive dialogue and negotiation. And it implies confidence and a clear purpose. "We have none of these. The sole purpose today is how to get the money. And some even offer as a sly national policy the idea: "Now, when we have got the money, we will not pay it back."

Drasi’s leader explained that no one should doubt that if Greece cancels the memorandum Europe too "will take its money and withdraw," which would have disastrous consequences for the country

"We declare that if we enter parliament and one of us is elected as a minister, he will give up his deputy seat. We believe that the division of legislative and executive power is very significant at this stage. Furthermore, we will also give up government funding to which parliamentary forces are entitled. More precisely, from each around 10 euro the parties receive for each vote we will keep only 70 cents and return the remaining 9.30 euro to the state funds. We chose this amount because this is the amount German parties obtain and we believe that it is quite sufficient."

The coalition between Drasi, ReCreate Greece and the Liberal Alliance is unconditionally in favour of Greece’s staying in the euro area. Stefanos Manos stated that after signing the new Memorandum, the three parties would require all other political parties to pledge that they will not allow Greece to end up in its present situation.

"We presented our positions several years ago, we repeated them in April and will now only reiterate them," said he and rebuked the main opponents for changing their strategy after the elections in May.

"We declare our support for immediate cuts in the public sector through dismissals or through transferring services and employees to private companies that will provide services to the state based on private contracts. The coalition suggests that dismissed civil servants should receive 70% of gross salary for three years to be able to smoothly move to the private sector.

The second suggestion of the coalition is the establishment of a simplified tax system, clear for the citizens and easily manageable by the state. "I think elimination of all property taxes is the right measure. First, because the fact that one has a property does not mean that he or she is able to pay high taxes, and secondly, because they reduce the value of the property of us all - private owners and state. I believe that simplifying the tax system itself will reduce tax evasion." Stefanos Manos also said that Greek parties would have to pledge that they would not try to change the system over the next ten years, because it would hamper investments. "No investor will come to a country where no one knows what will happen after a few months or a year. And we can reduce unemployment only through investment."

Another suggestion is the establishment of a fair pension system to maintain competitiveness, contribute to development and ensure a minimum pension of 700 euro for all citizens aged over 67 years, regardless of whether they have made social insurance payments. "By reducing these payments, business costs will drop and staff salaries will increase. Pensions can be supported by the tax system, provided it is properly organized."

Stefanos Manos criticized the other parties. "New Democracy promises to save money by cutting unnecessary costs, but it did the opposite, when it was in power. On the other hand, be sure that SYRIZA will double taxes because they believe that this along with confiscation of property are measures taken in favour of the people. A week ago, Evangelos Venizelos did convince the union of civil servants ADEDY that he will not allow dismissals in the public sector, when the Memorandum he personally signed indicates the reduction of civil servants by 150,000 by 2015. All of them - New Democracy, PASOK and SYRIZA, are subject to populism and therefore, cannot be trusted. The Democratic Left wants an extension of fiscal recovery until 2017. This means new loans, new memoranda and longer dependence."

At the end of his speech, the elder politician said that the three parties that make up the pre-election coalition are deeply pro-European and reformist. "We may be small but we are not parties of protest. We are ready to contribute to the governing of the country and take our rightful responsibility. This means we are a factor of political stability."

He expressed the conviction of Drasi, ReCreate Greece and the Liberal Alliance that the only culprits for the situation of Greece today are the Greeks themselves, as they failed to rationally use the capacities of the country. "Only we can win the battle and change the system that brought us here. It depends only on us, not on the supervisory Troika and creditors."

According to Stefanos Manos, Greece will be able to regain its national self-confidence when it will be able to support its European counterparts with money and expertise when they need it. "This must be our national goal - to be good enough and able to help our partners when they need our support. It is not possible for our goal to be to get as much as possible by doing the least about it."