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Do you think these elections will solve the problems of the Greek economy?

People should always have the final saying on the fate of the country. Everyone sees the everyday difficulties that exist in society. The different protests, the movements like that of the Discontented and the general indignation they all are serious and largely due to the restrictive measures. I think that we should prefer early elections instead of lack of government. I say "lack of government" because it has recently become clear that the restructuring of the cabinet does not work. The same persons change their position but there are no results. The government that will be created by the will of the Greek people in the new environment is better than no government. It does not matter whether this will be one-party or coalition government, anyway, it will be better than the current situation.

What is your position regarding the idea of ​​consensus in the Greek Parliament?

We have raised the flag of consensus from 2009. Much could be achieved through an agreement but seriousness and determination are required to find solutions to major problems in economic life not only at government but also at European level. No matter how the media present the things, the biggest problem of the Union is not Greece. It just happened to come on stage in a bad moment. I have said many times that Greece's foreign debt represents only 1.35% of the European debt. The problems we have now are structural and therefore we insist on paying attention to this type of reforms that remain unresolved. Consensus is required but in a much greater degree and in broader structural plan than the close Greek issues.

Trade unions in Greece are a serious impediment to structural changes, which both the Greek government and the partners from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund say they want. Very often they paralyze the activity of the entire public sector to gain any benefit to the basic salary. What is this force that can suppress the union leaders in Greece so that to see the real problems in the public sector, which definitely does not work effectively?

Unfortunately, the trade unions and the formations play a negative role for the local economy and are a major impediment to economic development. I would like to admit that all governments with no exception have been repeating the same mistake in the last 30 years. Just because they were unable to increase public sector wages constitutionally, they resorted to the benefits as a way to increase the employees’ income. Thus, an economic observer would find that the main public sector wages grew relatively slowly, while the real monthly salaries were much higher than recorded. This remains true today in the crisis.

There are unbelievable benefits such as for those public sector employees who have come to work on time. How is it possible to reward a man for being at work at the right time? Another similar benefit that can not help but leave you speechless is that of personal hygiene in the workplace. All this policy led to huge disparities in the level of public sector salaries when comparing the salaries of employees at the same levels in different institutions. If we compare the salary of a cleaner in the Ministry of Finance, for example, with my full respect for the people who are doing this job, with her colleague from another institution we will see a huge difference, just because of the benefits each institution adds to the wages. In some cases the salary of a cleaner in one ministry can reach the monthly income of an employee on a management level in another ministry.

All these phenomena we are talking about became a reality just because of the pressure by the trade unions and the formations. And if we have to be honest, today's PASOK party, which is governing Greece, is the main reason for these phenomena. So, today the Socialist government should change the policy pursued in order to implement the reforms which it has negotiated. Even its election campaign was based on union demands - to nationalize or rather to completely return to the state the national telecommunication company OTE, the Olympic Air and so forth. There were even rumours that the Chinese company COSCO, which signed a very beneficial contract for the concession of the port of Piraeus, passed by Parliament itself as a state law, would be withdrawn from the port. In the end, this government should convince itself that it wants the reforms and the changes. Then, it should convince its members, who are leaders or representatives of trade unions and other entities that it is time for reforms. I've said it before and will say it now: "When you do not believe in what you do, it will never happen as it should." Here lies the reason for the lack of confidence and for the fear that the program will not be implemented.