ATHENS – Main opposition SYRIZA spokesperson Alexis Charitsis expressed the opinion that major crises such as the current coronavirus outbreak can only be addressed with a strong public health system, while speaking on the public ERT radio on Thursday.

He said that it was positive that an “injection” of extra staff for the public health system was decided but negative “that the 1,500 permanent medical and nursing staff positions already approved in the summer of 2019 have yet to be announced.”

Charitsis said that “this crisis proves even to those most obsessed with neoliberalism and the free market that it is important to have a strong and secure public health system”.

The main opposition spokesperson said that Europe has again failed to rise to the occasion, underlining the need to lift fiscal restrictions and support the weaker economies. He said that it is SYRIZA’s achievement that the Greek economy has been protected “with the debt settled and with a cash buffer,” otherwise “we would be totally exposed” if SYRIZA had adopted the positions for a credit line supported by Kyriakos Μitsotakis and Yannis Stournaras.

Finally, he condemned the Turkish provocation and aggressiveness and accused the government of delays and mistaken strategy in converting the refugees issue from an international to a Greek-Turkish affair, when the message should be sent that all the Greeks should be united against the Turkish provocativeness.