His finances Stefanou Kasselakis it seems that they will continue to occupy the political current affairs, as the Maximos Palace will persist, as demonstrated by the recent intervention of Kyriakou Mitsotakis, to maintain the issue that is causing turmoil in SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance as well. On the other hand, the SYRIZA president is trying to change the agenda by arguing that he will comply with the law. At this point, however, a major issue arises, which actually casts a new shadow on the relations of St. Kasselakis and the former prime minister Alexis Tsipras: the admission of the president of SYRIZA that the specific law that was passed during the SYRIZA – ANEL joint government was a mistake. The case is maintained by the government, with its central officials, apart from the Prime Minister himself, such as e.g. The Makis Voridis and Adonis Georgiades, to say that St. Kasselakis violated the law not of Mr. Mitsotakis but the law of Al. Tsipras.
“He will respect the law”
The staff of the president of SYRIZA insist that St. Kasselakis will absolutely respect the legislation and they report, speaking to “Vima”, that since the law clearly says that a political leader, even an extra-parliamentary one, has companies abroad, this law will be absolutely respected.
At the same time, in Koumoundourou they believe that there are no shadows and that the ND artificially preserves a subject out of non-existence. As the press representative of SYRIZA says in this regard Voula Kehagiahe does this consciously and with a clear political aim, “because he naively asks who lent, since the company, which was for lobsters, has closed ), at the time when all the documents and documents from the banks have been made public and they say about another company”.
The official opposition leader does not refuse, and tells his interlocutors as well, to give explanations to the Justice and does not wish his case to be archived. Besides, he also said it in the main Mega news bulletin a few days ago: “I am a politician who will abide by the law. If there has been an irregularity and a fine needs to be imposed, I will pay it.”
Counter-attack on the debts of the ND
The strategy of St. From now on, Kasselakis will unfold based on the doctrine “the best defense is attack”: he will attack Mr. Mitsotakis for the ND’s debts that reach 500 million euros and will remind history with the prime minister’s “where did you come from” years ago.
The argument put forward by SYRIZA regarding the business activities of politicians is that the existing law that the government will change did not provide that – based on the Constitution and the new electoral system – our expatriate citizens could and should be on State ballots. This was the case with the last electoral system and was not provided for in the 2016 law.
Contrary to what they attribute to him, St. Kasselakis insists that he has now transferred his companies and has no companies. And in fact, according to him, the transfer took place in 2023 and a lot remains to be seen in the “pothen esshes” which will be filed by June 30.
As for the interest-free loan he gave last Christmas to pay for the workers’ gift, that money was returned through the same route from which it was given. Regarding the private lending agreement of LEFT MEDIA through OSIOS, if requested by the Court, it will be filed.
“I no longer have a stake in any company”
“All my lobster boat holdings have been transferred. My participation in cooperation with a listed company in America was known to the world, my cooperation was terminated a year ago. I claimed a fee and I am claiming my earnings. I no longer have a stake in any company” was his reply.
Of course, many within the party say that he must do what the law stipulates, and even immediately so that there are no shadows. “To give a clear answer about his property situation” say many, so that the ND cannot focus on this issue avoiding the essentials. Furthermore, lawyers argue that St. Kasselakis should have filed an initial declaration of assets within three months of being elected president.
But the interest in this story is the clear distance it keeps from the period of Al.’s prime ministership. Tsipras, and this was also seen from the phrase (Mega interview) that “the cycle of 2015-2019 has closed”. And that is why he differentiated himself from the specific law, while at the same time he does not want to empty it Nikos Pappa and the Pavlos Polakis agreeing with Al. Tsipras that there were unfortunate handlings both in the management of the Novartis scandal and in the issue of the television license competition.
The proposals for the economy
In the shadow of the discussion about the business activities of St. Kasselakis before he was elected president of SYRIZA-PS, the party’s proposals for the economy were presented, which according to Koumoundourou are overpriced and according to P. Polakis they were the “most left-wing thing heard in the last 30 years”, a phrase that was also considered a cutting edge for during the Tsipras presidency.
The president of SYRIZA insists that the tax framework he is proposing will bring an explosion of growth and a crackdown on tax evasion, with the government responding to him with money trees and repeating the Thessaloniki program.
What SYRIZA-PS proposes is to have a much more progressive scale especially for incomes below 60,000 euros. In this context, it is proposed to abolish the independent tax on dividends, because it will go to the individual scale. “For the vast majority of entrepreneurs who do not even dream of amounts over 100,000 euros in dividends, there will be less tax this way. And for all entrepreneurs and workers the contributions will be reduced” is the opinion of St. Kasselakis.
It is also proposed to abolish the advance payment of income tax as according to the financial staff of SYRIZA it will release enormous forces and crack down on tax evasion.
Accordingly, they insist on prioritizing tax cuts on essential goods, which they say should be permanent.
The so-called “Greek dream” by Mr. Kasselakis includes proposals-interventions for the suppression of precision, amounting to 3.2 billion euros: tax-free for everyone with an income of 10,000 euros, VAT reductions, reduction of the corporate taxation rate, increase of tax for those with an income over 200,000 euros and even more for those with over 900,000 euros, taxation of energy companies and banks, etc.
Zero VAT for basic goods
Among other things, it proposes, temporarily for six plus six months, the zeroing of the VAT rate in the categories of basic goods as determined by ELSTAT. In the permanent measures, he proposes the inclusion of personal hygiene products for adults and baby care in the reduced VAT rate of 6% (from 13% which is currently and from 24% for adult and super-adult items), the reduction of the VAT rate to the EU average, i.e. to coefficients of 21%, 11% and 5% respectively in the remaining categories of goods.
The proposal also talks about a 6% VAT on water supply (from 13% which is currently) and 13% on drainage (from 24%). Finally, it proposes an immediate reduction in the cost of unlimited travel cards from 27 to 9 euros for all means of transport.
Where will resources be saved? From Koumoundourou they say that the cost of combating the exaction is 3.243 billion euros and the income from the extraordinary taxation of filthy lucre amounts to 3.62 billion euros. And more specifically and according to modest calculations, about €900 million is from an extraordinary levy of 90% on the surplus profits of energy companies from September ’22 to December ’23. About €715 million is from an extraordinary levy of 90% on the surplus profits of refining and trading companies for the year 2023. About €1.6 billion is from an extraordinary levy on the surplus profits of banks with huge transaction costs, at a rate of 90% for in 2023.
The khaki shades in the operation of SYRIZA
The semiotics at the barbershop where Stefanos Kasselakis asked to get a haircut could not go unnoticed… “siriza” in view of his military obligations. The video posted by the president of SYRIZA on TikTok did not go unnoticed, and it stood out so much for its artistic editing that it became the subject of a dispute with Adonis Georgiadis over its cost. Less preoccupied, though more essential, was a question: How will the party function while he is dressed in khakis?
The residents of Koumoundourou meaningfully refer to a certain presidential “hypermobility”: During the five and a half months of the Kasselakis presidency, there were not a few times that the president was outside of Athens even for cases that were not necessarily related to his presidential duties. Now, however, his close staff will be responsible for “running” the party, for whom the information wants to have a phone call at some point of the day about the current affairs. It is also said that there will be no shortage of tweets or Facebook posts. And this is because it has been put forward as an idea to have his interventions on various issues from the social media, even with a couple of sentences to keep up to date.
However, the communication counterattack for the European elections will begin after the army graduation, approximately on April 5-7, exactly two months before the crucial Euro-election, where a lot will be decided both for him and for his party. In the meantime, there will be persons who will come to the fore in the next fortnight to fill the “vacuum”, while after his return the internal party elections will proceed to nominate the MEP candidates and there will be regional conferences.
In Koumoundourou, the director of St. Kasselakis, the lawyer Manolis Kapnisakis, the coordinator of the Organizational Office Yiannis Voulgarakis, the secretary Rania Svigou. KO will “run” in the Parliament with its president Sokratis Famellos, as it has been doing for months, and with the active presence of its director Thanos Moraitis and other central MPs who are close to St. Kasselakis, such as Theodora Tzakri, the coordinator of sector heads Yiannis Sarakiotis, etc.
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