Stelios Petsas on the Evros fence: "Four out of five Greeks seem to be in favour"

Deputy Interior Minister Stelios Petsas, in today's interview, referring to the creation of the fence in Evros.

"Four out of five Greeks seem to be in favour of such solutions which protect our state against someone who wants to enter through the window and not through the door in our country," Petsas said.

"I cannot listen to issues such as those announced by the opposition or actions such as those of MEP Papadimoulis who are trying to torpedo European funding. It is against our national interests," he added.

Among other things, he emphasised that the only solution for stability and development is to vote for New Democracy and Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

For his part, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Saturday in an interview with Thessaloniki radio, "I consider that the issue of the fence on Evros is a given not only for the people living there, but it is a given for the vast majority of our fellow citizens that a sovereign country must have ways to effectively protect its borders."

"After the attempted migration invasion in March 2020, it became absolutely obvious to me that we need a strong deterrent that will support our overall policy for guarding the borders," the prime minister explained.

"Obviously the fence is not the only tool we have at our disposal, but we have hired many border guards, we have strengthened the technological means to monitor the entire border, and we have strengthened the coast guard to monitor our maritime borders," he added.

"In essence, what impresses me is why something that should be self-evident becomes a field of political confrontation and reaches the point where the main opposition, through Mr. Papadimoulis, officially requests that this project not be financed by European funds," Mitsotakis continued.

"I find it unimaginable that there is a Greek MEP asking that this fence be actually paid for by the Greek taxpayers," the prime minister said.

Referring to SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras, he said, "I don't know what Mr. Tsipras will do, because I hear many different voices. But I'm absolutely sure that if he doesn't destroy the part of the fence that has been built, he won't expand the fence and he won't implement the project that we have launched."

Main opposition SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras said on Saturday speaking at a gathering of citizens and executives at a central café in the square of Agia Paraskevi, "We will build a fence against injustice. This is our commitment."

The leader of SYRIZA noted that "SYRIZA being the first party in the May 21 elections means that we will have a government of progressive cooperation the very next day of the elections."

He underlined that "a government of progressive cooperation with SYRIZA as its core will bring justice to society," adding that this means four things: increasing wages, reducing prices, regulating debts and a strong, fair, efficient state."

An electoral victory of SYRIZA will guarantee the ousting of the Mitsotakis regime and a political change with the help of a coalition of progressive parties, SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance leader Alexis Tsipras said on Friday in Kalamata, SW Greece.

"It is a national obligation to fight to get rid of [Prime Minister Kyriakos] Mitsotakis' regime, to put an end to corruption, lack of transparency, profiteering, cover-ups, and redistribution [of wealth] for the few," the main opposition leader. "We made mistakes but we brought Greece out from the memoranda and left behind 37 billion euros in the public coffers," he added.

Tsipras spoke of his party's national plan to revive Greece, under the motto 'Justice everywhere', ahead of the coming national elections on May 21. He said the party's plan includes salary raises, price reductions, instalment plans for debts, and an effective social state, and called for support at the ballot box.

Speaking of the deadly Tempi train collision on February 28, he said that "in the beautiful valley of Tempi there was a confluence of all the ugliness of the state that was advertised as an executive state, with dramatic consequences: the dissolution of the public sector and every facility to protect people; the insistence on obscure agreements with large interests; party cronyism; payouts; bribery; and getting comfortable."

Unfortunately for the government, its cover-up era is over at Tempi, Tsipras said. The next progressive government will provide space for the truth, and nobody will be protected from liability after the political change, he added.

READ MORE: Greek railway inspector detained in connection with fatal February crash.