ATHENS — “Fire protection, forest protection, floodworks, earthquake protection works – it is clear to all that they are all becoming urgent in nature,” the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) Dimitris Koutsoumbas said on Friday, in an interview with the radio station ‘Real FM’.

The complete lack of anti-flooding works, Koutsoumbas added, was because all governments considered them “non-selectable” due to their low profitability for companies and investors, he added.

He also outlined KKE’s opposition to arms deals and defence agreements, saying that these were not defensive but involved Greece’s participation not in the defence of its sovereign rights and the country’s defence but in dangerous plans of the United States, NATO and the European Union in the Eastern Mediterranean, Middle East, North and Sub-Saharan Africa that targeted Russia and China.

“Greece is a champion in military spending. There is no money for the people but it is given to the French and American military industrial complexes while the Greek [defence industry] is permitted to go into decline and shut down. What defence are we talking about, in that case,” he added.

Talking about opinion polls and media funding, Koutsoumbas said KKE will ask for an investigation into these issues going back at least one decade while he also noted that KKE was the only party to have increased its percentage relative to the elections in 2019, showing that the party had growing appeal and prestige.