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RT: 2012 was a momentous year for Greece and for theEurozone, the country managed to keep the euro and fears of thecountry’s immediate bankruptcy have receded, is Greece over theworst?Simos Kedikoglou: Greece is over the worst of it. Butit’s not over yet. We still have things to do. Our first battle forour government was in June and the climate was very, very negative.I would say that we were practically out of the Eurozone, but wemanaged to win the first battle, the battle for the Eurozone. Nowis the second battle, the battle against unemployment. Becauseunemployment in Greece has risen to levels nobody can imagine. 27%among all the population, 60% among young people, because in thebeginning it was only austerity, austerity and nothing else. Thatdidn’t work, that is why we have the fourth year of recession,that’s why unemployment rose to those levels. Now the new programhas policies for development and these tools we are using them tocreate jobs. In any case, the Greek economy desperately needs newclean money. By clean money I mean not loans. And this can beachieved in two ways mainly: by exports and by attractinginvestment. In both these ways, Russia is an ideal partner andthat’s the reason that here in Russia, we presented for the firsttime the new investment law in Greece.RT: Please tell us a little bit about thatSK: I’ll tell you two things that are quite significant.On the high level, by high level I mean big investments, we have afast track procedure, which means that practically whoever investsmore than 50 million euros in Greece; we will take the investor bythe hand and guide him until the fulfillment of theirinvestment.  We have made certain procedures, forexample all necessary permission will be by one service, they won’thave to go through this marathon labyrinth of service to service toget permission.RT: It’s an easier procedure?SK: It’s an easier procedure, we’re battlingbureaucracy, and we’re simplifying things. Something else, on thelower level, something I believe will be an attractive idea to manyRussians. Any Russian that buys a house in Greece above a certainlevel that will be about 200,000 euros, he and his family will havea five year visa, which will be renewed if he keeps thehouse.RT: Well, as I can see Greece is moving towardscloser, stronger relations with Russia, but not everybody is happy,we know that Greece is expected to raise 50 billion euros inprivatization among other things, selling natural gas assets, andthere are media reports suggesting the US and European authoritieshave said not to sell it to…SK: We are going to carry on the procedure as ithas been planned, the best offer wins and we welcome the Russianproposals, there are two Russian companies that have entered theprocedure, as far as I know, they have very good proposals, its twomain factors are important, the sum of money that is offered butalso the gas plan, because you can understand and especially for aneconomy, which wants to get out of a crisis, we want the cheapestpossible energy for the next 5-10 years.RT: But did your government receive any advicefrom western authorities? SK: No, the only advice came from articles in thenewspapers, I’m also a journalist and I know how some articlesappear.RT: It’s just media speculation then?SK: The best man wins. The best offer in our case.RT: OK, so as far as I understand, that all soundslike no more austerity for Greece, is that correct?SK: Greeks have suffered very much. The average income ofa Greek has fallen by 30%. How much more austerity? We needdevelopment; we are desperate for air, for oxygen, because we werein a downward spiral. We managed to stop it and by the summer wewill have started to rise again. And this year will be the firstyear after many, many years that Greece will have a primary surplusand I believe that it’s something like 30 years that we haven’tachieved that. So we are doing things right. It’s hard. And we musthelp as soon as possible those categories for example low pensionsthat need help.RT: Even at a time when the Eurozone was created backat the end of the 1990’s, Helmut Kohl, the then German Chancellorignored signs, and the fact that experts have been saying that andpointed that out to him, that Italy was not ready to join the euro.He was very well informed, and very well aware of the fact ofspecial risks, that this country and this accession may pose to theeuro and two years later the same happened with Greece. It was accepted but it wasn’t actually ready as experts weresaying. Why at that time, countries like Italy, like Greece, wereso forcefully dragged in do you think?SK: Well, it was the European dream. There you also haveto look for other responsibilities. Why did we invest in themonetary union without advancing the economic political union? Howwas that possible? How did we do such a mistake? I’m telling youresponsibility goes right back to Brussels. And to the whole of theEuropean Union. And right now the European Union is facing a majorchallenge, it must change, it must be taught by the mistakes of thepast. And we want to be optimistic , we believe that Europe willchange in the correct direction.RT: But mistakes were made, your absolutely right, butwill anybody….?SK: But will we stop making them, well you have to askquite a few politicians about that.RT: But will anybody ever hold any responsibility forthose mistakes? Because the consequences are very tough andordinary people are suffering, they don’t deserve that….SK: Consequences, what do you meanconsequences?  Consequences for somebody that made moneyout of this, yes there will be. Consequences for somebody thatdecided wrongly, poorly. What kind of consequences. I believe thebiggest punishment for our politicians; especially a leader is whathistory writes. What other consequences, put them in prison? If wehad advanced the political union, along with the monetary union, wewouldn’t have arrived at this point. If, before lending money, wewere checking better, we wouldn’t have arrived at this point. If wehad known we wouldn’t have done what happened. But with ‘if’s’ youdon’t solve problems. What is most urgent for us is to make thingsbetter for the people.RT: And still Greek society is united? How do you feelit? Is it better now?SK: Of course, listen; it’s a very difficult period. It’sa period that…unemployment is the best ally for extremists, that’swhy you see the rise of the neo-fascists, that’s why you see therise of the political violence, that’s why you see from theextremists leftists carrying out acts of violence.RT: Is it a long standing phenomenon?SK: No it’s not a long standing phenomenon and I believethat as soon as we manage to battle unemployment, we will seepolitical violence slowing down, and you will see the rise of theneo-fascists ending. It is understandable. Desperation is the worstcouncillor, so we must bring back hope.RT: People are striking in Greece from time to timeand your government has at least twice already threatened to arreststriking workers and some say that…SK: We don’t arrest striking workers.RT: No, I said threatened to arrest.SK: No, no. There is a procedure in the Greek legalsystem that on certain occasions allows the government to orderpeople to work. For example, when you have a strike of well-paidpeople that earn salaries of over 3000 euros per month, when mostGreeks are making ends meet with 1000 euros and less, they arestriking and paralysing the whole city, a group of a few hundredpeople, so they won’t lose their privileges, then yes thegovernment must force them to work and that’s what we did. Wedidn’t arrest anybody, we didn’t threaten anybody. We enforced thelaw. Nobody can keep a society hostage, that’s what we said andthat’s what we did.RT: I can hear, I can feel that your talking with hugerespect about European partners, but here is criticism coming fromsome German politicians, some German media, in relation to modernGreece. Is Greece now happy to live in this kind of common Europeanhome?SK: Let’s see what kind of common European home we make,because I’m telling you Europe has to change, let’s see thedirection.RT: But right now you are happy with…SK: listen, our partners expressed their solidarity lastNovember. We were offered help on conditions that are the best inEurope and possibly the best in the world. Finally they showedtheir solidarity. Now we must do our job and we believe that thisyear, by the end of this year we will be on the rise and everybodywill know that we are on the right track. … Read More