Athens News Agency: News in English, 07-09-26

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] KKE Parliamentary group convenes

[02] SYRIZA Parliamentary group

[01] KKE Parliamentary group convenes

According to KKE's Parliamentary group, "the increase in KKE's electoral strength, with the momentum this contains in combination with the losses of the two urban parties of power, New Democracy and PASOK, creates the conditions to continue the struggle of the working class and lower strata from improved positions".

KKE MPs also warned that the government was trying to quickly push through changes that would be painful for the working class, especially under the guise of social insurance reform. Among these changes it listed cutting back rights to early retirement and disability pensions, increasing the age of retirement and reducing the size of pensions.

The party also noted that main opposition PASOK would not stand up to the government regarding its strategic choices, since the two parties had identical policies in this area and were both bound by the interests of big capital in the EU and NATO.

KKE's Parliamentary group announced that it had appointed Antonis Skyllakos as secretary, Spyros Halvatzis and Achilleas Kantartzis as parliamentary spokesmen and would propose Vera Nikolaidou for Parliament Vice-President and Elpida Pantelaki for Parliament secretary.

[02] SYRIZA Parliamentary group

Alavanos said that SYRIZA had created a new model for conducting parliamentary opposition during the last Parliament because it not only criticised basic issues of government policy but was also "a force presenting programme positions and submitting proposals".

He warned that the government had already given a foretaste of "the even more negative course it will take" and warned SYRIZA MPs that they would have to have to be aware of the major fronts on which the party would stand up and promote the positions of the Left and movements, such as the environment, social state, wages, high prices and social insurance reform.

"We must be aware that apart from having the government as our opponent, we are also opposed by forces that are not physically present in the area where legislative work is done but which very often dictate and impose their positions and against which we must wage great battles," Alavanos said.

As an example, he mentioned Greek banks that currently enjoyed profits unmatched elsewhere in Europe and at the same time imposed particularly harsh and painful terms on working people and lower income strata that had to be countered.

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