ND shadow minister slams SYRIZA program
Opposition New Democracy's shadow minister for development, Dora Bakoyannis on Tuesday dismissed a four-year program presented by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Monday in the event that his SYRIZA party is re-elected in snap polls next month as failing to contain measures that will boost economic growth.
“What we saw yesterday was a Tsipras from the past, full of promises… Yesterday he promised something that SYRIZA's MPs abolished by vote last Friday: Reductions to taxes that have an impact on the middle class, the biggest losers under SYRIZA's policy,” Bakoyannis told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency's Praktoreio radio station, responding to the prime minister's presentation in Athens on Monday, in which he announced targeted tax relief for people with middle and lower incomes.
Bakoyannis also dismissed Tsipras' claims that SYRIZA’s program is based on “the pillars of growth for everyone.”
“SYRIZA's program cannot bring the growth that has been under discussion for such a long time because, unfortunately, growth cannot be commanded,” the veteran politician said. “Mr Tsipras spoke yesterday of bringing 500,000 new jobs. How does he intend to do this when right now growth is at 1.3 percent [of GDP] instead of 2.6 percent as was the target?
“How does he intend to bring 500,000 well-paid jobs when 15,000 well-paid jobs would have been generated at Elliniko and not a single bulldozer has yet gotten to work?” Bakoyannis added, referring to a major investment project on Athens' southern coast that has come to a standstill.
What Greece needs, she added, is an “investment friendly environment and a prime minister who is determined to bolster entrepreneurship… and to crack down on red tape.”
“Growth is a complex issue, but the fact that markets reacted as they did to the results of the European elections shows trust in New Democracy,” Bakoyannis added, referring to a market rally after the conservative party defeated leftist SYRIZA by nearly 10 percentage points in last month's poll for European Parliament, which prompted Tsipras' decision to call snap general elections.
