"On the occasion of the latest developments in the OPEKEPE case, I address you today without beating around the bush or using evasions. This is my responsibility, both as Prime Minister and as President of a major faction whose history is identified with the journey of post-dictatorship Greece, including its good and less good moments. I want to make three points. First, the submission of a case file to Parliament requesting the lifting of immunity for 11 New Democracy MPs constitutes a serious development, on which I must comment in detail.
I remind you that the European Public Prosecutor's Office was institutionalized in 2020 and was fully supported by our government. Furthermore, the material upon which it bases its requests is the product of legal wiretaps carried out by the law enforcement authorities of this very government. Without, obviously, any intervention in their work. These concern, of course, events not from today, but from 2021. The members of the government mentioned in the case submitted their resignations immediately. The immunity requests will be discussed tomorrow in the Parliament's Ethics Committee. It was, after all, New Democracy that amended the Constitution so that lifting MP immunity becomes the rule rather than the exception. The decision of our MPs to request the lifting of their parliamentary protection honors them.
However, from the initial processing of the data, it is clear that not all cases carry the same weight. One thing, however, is certain: none of our MPs are accused of obtaining a financial benefit. Given that Western legal culture has fought to conquer the presumption of innocence, I emphasize that I will do everything in my power to defend it. That is why I ask the European Public Prosecutor's Office, after the lifting of our MPs' immunity, to proceed rapidly with all investigative actions and decide if, against how many, and against whom it intends to bring charges.
And when I say rapidly, I mean it. Because we are talking about our MPs who have already suffered a personal and political blow. They have, therefore, the minimum right to defend themselves. My second point regarding OPEKEPE concerns the scourge of clientelist relations, which for decades were passed like an old-party 'baton' from the hands of one government to the next. I have stood self-critically against this many times, as well as for the fact that I did not take drastic interventions earlier to break the 'abscess.'
However, the great reform is now being implemented: OPEKEPE, as we knew it, no longer exists. The responsibility for determining and paying out agricultural subsidies has been transferred to the AADE (Independent Authority for Public Revenue). And just as today we do not ask for favors from the AADE on tax issues, the same will apply from now on to subsidies. It is a major change that will greatly benefit every honest farmer and livestock breeder. Allow me a more personal tone here. Enough with the hypocrites who suddenly 'discovered' that political favors in this country began in 2019. Such clientelist relations have accompanied the Greek state since its inception. They are among the basic reasons for our national lag compared to Europe.
I speak to you from the heart. Obviously, I did not emerge from political 'parthenogenesis.' Any MP who is elected by preference vote, maintains a political office, and claims they have never done a personal favor is simply a liar. However, since 2019, I have been fighting to transform Greece into a modern European state, where you will not need to personally know the MP to be treated with dignity by the State.
The great bet of digital modernization that we are winning day by day aims not only at a better daily life for all but at tackling the small or large-scale corruption that can be hidden in every process involving a human factor. Centuries-old mentalities, you see, do not change overnight, unfortunately. That is why we must deprive cronyism of its political 'oxygen.' How? Today, pensions are issued in a short time rather than three years. So, why call the MP to ask for yours to come out faster? In the country, when there are enough Intensive Care beds, what reason is there for someone to demand preferential treatment? From the moment traffic tickets are issued automatically and digitally, who will be able to want theirs erased?
Now that military service is being modernized and everyone serves in the Army under the same terms, the military favor loses its meaning. And when, as we are launching, satellites record crops and all animals have electronic tagging, we will finally end non-existent herds and virtual pastures. All these are policies already being implemented that change the 'deep state.' To put it differently: only digital modernization and transparency can rid us of outdated practices that have no place in the 21st century.
Finally, my third comment concerns the political system as a whole. No one—and I first of all—can close their eyes to the crisis of trust, which is directed not only at institutions but at the country's political personnel as a whole. A challenge, of course, that concerns all liberal democracies. We, however, have a duty to deal with our own 'house.' I think we have reached a turning point. As Prime Minister, therefore, but also as the President of a party that guarantees stability and security, I must evaluate the juncture, not only as a lesson from a negative experience but as a new starting point for the battle with the 'deep state.' With my own faction being the first to become a force of rupture with the status quo and to face, with honesty and bravery, its own weaknesses.
Thus, I will propose for discussion in the public dialogue a new set of institutional breakthroughs, beyond our proposals for Constitutional Revision. Among them, the ministerial-parliamentary incompatibility, with the replacement of the Minister in Parliament by the first runner-up for as long as they participate in the Cabinet, and with the simultaneous upgrading of the MP's role. Obviously, the above proposals will be put to consultation with society so they can be implemented after the next national elections. They will also be part of the commitments we will undertake, should the people trust us again. And in any case, they certainly signal my personal decision for the homeland to definitively win the war against the bonds of its past.
In other words, walking toward the milestone of 2030 and the two centuries since the founding of the modern Greek state, we are called to face all those chronic pathologies that we have not yet uprooted. And despite the difficulties, despite the reactions, I am sure that Greek women and men will support this effort. An effort for the modernization and upgrading of public life. The country will defeat whatever comes from yesterday and holds it back. And its path from now on will only be forward, with the first and decisive milestone being the 2027 elections."
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