“The Parliamentary Group of the Southwest was and is a lively and creative organisation, in which government decisions meet fruitfully with the anxieties of society and the proposals of our MPs. This is, after all, the role of the CSO of a liberal party. To highlight the work of the government, but also to convey the problems and concerns of the citizens and, of course, to put forward proposals for dealing with them. Because MPs are the best pulse monitors of society, who quickly catch the pulse of the people.”
This was stressed by the Secretary General of the Parliamentary Group of the New Democracy, MP for Larissa, Maximos Charakopoulos, opening the meeting of the Parliamentary Group of the New Democracy, before giving the floor to the Prime Minister and President of the New Democracy, Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Charakopoulos began his speech by noting that “if anything, the meeting of our Parliamentary Group is a central political event. The conclusion is that the South-Western Party’s Central Committee was and is a lively and creative organisation, in which government decisions meet fruitfully with the anxieties of society and the proposals of our MPs. The role of the CoM is to highlight the government’s work, but also to convey the problems and concerns of the citizens and, of course, to put forward proposals to address them. Parliamentary interventions do not constitute a nuisance or dissent. And of course they are not mutiny, as they are sometimes easily dubbed. I speak from experience! As a liberal party we are constantly seeking proposals, even objections. Because they can correct the wrongs, where they certainly exist. Because the New Democracy was and is an open and diverse party. A party of creative dialogue and composition. And this is its great strength.”
The head of the Southwest’s COO then stressed that “we are already in our seventh year of governance with a huge gap between us and the parties of the fragmented opposition. And he can rightly look to the upcoming elections with optimism. Claiming a third self-reliant four-year term. Its main asset is the great work it has done. With vision and planning, with knowledge and confidence, with wisdom and determination. Some people would like to drag political life into a toxic confrontation. In a no-holds-barred and unconditional scandalology. We will continue on the same steady path we have been on all these years. And yes, we will shake them up on the positive agenda! Starting with our proposals for constitutional reform, which is called upon to address the deficit of public trust in the institutions.”
Charakopoulos also noted that “the revision of the Constitution must respond convincingly and in a coordinated manner to this major problem of our democracy. The constitutional revision, however, requires the greatest possible consensus. We hope that the opposition, and especially the parliamentary opposition, which behaves with institutional irresponsibility when it comes to the consensual election of the heads of independent authorities, will rise to the occasion. Avoiding proposals that contain ingredients of easy-to-digest populism, but also without getting caught up in an elitist legal scholasticism, we must restore relations between citizens and institutions, so that we can move forward with confidence towards a future that international developments have surrounded it with the haze of uncertainty.
The dialogue on the revision of the Constitution is also an opportunity for a meaningful debate on the role and mission of the MP.”
