“If we should know what part of the debt is unlawful or odious because it was the product of illegal acts, antisocial policy, choices of unconstitutional decisions or overcharged contracts, then the position of our people and our country strengthens and at the same time the established concept of the creditors that all the debt has to be serviced, delegitimizes”, Mrs,Sophia Sakorafa a SYRIZA Member of the European Parliament and member of the Committee to Control Accounting Debt, stated in an interview “In-On” magazine.
Question: When was Committee Audit suggested?
Answer: Audits carried out for the debt by an open and independent committee was my first proposal to the Greek Parliament in 2010, as an independent MP, immediately after we were controlled by Troika. Of course, that government refused, like all governments that followed the memorandum policy. Shortly after, an initiative to establish a committee audit consisting of Greek and foreign professors and scientists, members of the Parliament and political figures, but also of collectives, organizations and associations was materialized. The establishment of the Committee has been requested mainly by the movement of the squares since 2011. The establishment of the committee, then, in March 2015, by the President of the Parliament, Mrs. Zoe Konstantopoulou, firstly responds to a key social demand and justifies it. Indeed, it vindicates popular demand so as the whole truth about the debt be revealed. In other words, how it was produced, why and how it increased and reached a level that is no longer sustainable. But I will focus on the reaction of the political parties that follow the memorandum policy which unprecedentedly attacked us both personally and politically. Are they really afraid so much of the truth? Are they afraid that the truth will be revealed through open procedures with the participation of our people? Do they really fear so much their deeds? If this is the case, that is fine because eventually everything will be revealed. And I reassure them that no attack will make us stop. The truth is superior to any effort of impairment.
Question: Tell us what is the benefit for Greece?
Answer: The revelation of the truth has multiple benefits for our people and our country. If we should know what part of the debt is unlawful or odious because it was the product of illegal acts, antisocial policy, choices of unconstitutional decisions or overcharged contracts, then the position of our people and our country strengthens and at the same time the established concept of the creditors that all debt has to be serviced, delegitimizes. Therefore, reinforcing the position of Greece is not just a political act but it also touches international and European conventions as far as the international law and the statutes of the UN are concerned. At the same time, we will comprehend what we must avoid in the future so as not to follow similar criminal practices that increase the debt. The “Truth” Committee is not closed and entrenched but follows an open, public and participatory process which politically educates the community towards control or accountability, providing, however, active support to the deduction of conclusions that strengthen the society and help its reconstruction,
Question: Characterize the Europeans’ approach
Answer: Contradictory. I mean that while since 2013 there is a European regulation that provides for a Committee to control debt in countries which undergo harsh fiscal adjustment, however, in the case of Greece the establishment of such a Committee for the first time on European soil was not welcomed. See that Europe’s mechanisms as currently developed are absolutely hypocritical. And this hypocrisy must stop. At this point, we can see, yet, another benefit that will result from the Committee. The political directors of the EU will be forced to confront another piece of truth which is documented and lawful; the truth of the people. A truth that opposes today’s dominant propaganda which describes the Greek people as a nation that survives at the expense of the European taxpayers. A truth will prove by evidence that the labor of the European nations is thrown into the black hole of the banks and that ultimately what survives is the financial system produced by the the crisis, while societies are destroyed and democracy is devaluated.
Question: What actions did you take as a Member of the European Parliament so as Europeans support Greece?
Answer: Overall, the group of SYRIZA and the European Left struggles within the framework of the European Parliament and beyond it in the field of the media and also on the level of coordination with the movements of Europe. More particularly, in the specific part of the “Truth Committee” my role is to inform the Parliament, the national parliaments and especially the peoples of Europe, both for the work of the Committee and its conclusions, as well. I insist on the word truth, mainly for its content. And I assure Wolfang Schäuble, who in a recent interview said that the Greek people must learn the truth, well they will learn it. And the European nations will learn it, too. They will learn who and why is responsible for the scandals of Siemens and armament programs. They will also learn how and why the public debt radically increased. They will learn how we signed the first memorandum in 2010, the hateful laws and the second memorandum. They will learn about the role of the banks. We will learn what we borrowed and what we paid, who paid and why we paid, while at the same time, our society suffered by an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.
Curriculum Vitae
Sofia Sakorafa is a SYRIZA Member of the European Parliament and member of the “Truth Committee” for the Public Debt. She was born in 1957 in Trikala and she is a physical education teacher. In 1982, she broke the world record in javelin throw, while she participates in peace and political solidarity movements. She has been engaged for 10 years in the field of Local Government and in 2002, she took part in the municipal elections in Maroussi as head of an independent combination In 2004, President Yasser Arafat conferred Palestinian citizenship in order Sofia Sakorafa to participate in the Olympic Games in Athens with the team of Palestine. She involved in the initiative “A Ship to Gaza” and in 2009 she was in Gaza during the Israeli bombardment. She has been an MP since 2007, leaving, however, the political party of PASOK in May 2010 when she voted against the first Memorandum. She recommended to the Parliament the establishment of a Committee Audit or the public debt and participates as an independent MP in the Initiative Committee Audit. Additionally, she activated in the establishment of the anti-memorandum Left Front. In December 2011, a political cooperation with the President of SYRIZA Alexis Tsipras was announced while in April 2012, she becomes a member of the central committee of SYRIZA. During the elections of May 6, 2012 she was elected first deputy in the second division of Athens under the political party of SYRIZA and was reelected in the elections of June 17th. She is in charge of Parliamentary Work Committee Audit for the Ministry of Interior. She is a full member of the European Committee on Foreign Affairs and the European Committee on Petitions. Moreover, she is a substitute member of the European Committee on Industry, Research and Technology. Also, chairman of the Delegation of the European Parliament for EU relations with Central American countries (DCAM).