“Greece unfortunately was a neoliberal guinea pig for Europe, and the old political establishment willingly became an experiment that saw the plunder of society” the Greek Prime Minister said adding that previous administrations had left the social majority unprotected in the face of the financial crisis.
“The first pillar of the plan we implement refers to the upgrading of the health system. The creation of a comprehensive and adequately staffed primary health system” stated Mr. Tsipras adding that “the first units will be ready in 2017”.
The second pillar of the government’s social policy plan refers to social insurance. Mr. Tsipras said his government succeeded in establishing the national pension.
The third pillar is the protection of the socially weak while the fourth and the fifth are related with the protection of the employment and the tackling of unemployment. Mr. Tsipras said that his government would seek to reverse deregulation in the labor market.
The sixth pillar is the housing policy with top priority the protection of the first home, Mr. Tsipras said and finally the seventh pillar is education. According to the government’s plan, new special schools will be founded and “in September we will start the huge effort for the integration of all children refugees in the Greek education system” Mr. Tsipras said.
However, it should be noted that some pensions have suffered another blow due to the latest memorandum signed by the SYRIZA-ANEL governement, as well as some owners of houses remain unprotected under preconditions.
Although the number of poor and unemployed skyrocketed as a result of austerity policies imposed by the country’s lenders, welfare spending declined, the leftist premier told the council.