Main opposition SYRIZA leader Stefanos Kasselakis on Thursday evening spoke at an outdoor party rally in Chania (Hania), Crete, the region from where the paternal side of his family hails from, calling for an absolute abolition of VAT on primary household goods and a decrease in the special excise tax on fuels.
Kasselakis, a 36-year-old entrepreneur and investor who lived since his teen years in the United States and even worked for a time as a junior trader for Goldman Sachs in New York City, stunned Greece’s political establishment last autumn by vying for and winning leftist SYRIZA’s internal party election for a new president.
Widespread media speculation then and now claim his predecessor, former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, silently backed his candidacy.
The last hikes in VAT rates and the already stratospheric special fuel tax were implemented by the previous SYRIZA government (2015-19) led by Tsipras, under the weight of the third and last Greek bailout-memorandum.
In reference to the murder of a young woman this week by her ex-boyfriend turned stalker only meters away from a police station in northwest Athens, Kasselakis said his party’s position is that top police brass in the country should be selected by Parliament. He also called for greater police training on issues such as domestic violence and bullying.
Finally, he took aim at the independent judiciary, saying it has ceased to be Greek citizens’ last resort. Along these lines, he said proposed reforms for the justice system will be announced by SYRIZA next week.
