Press

Macedonia news paper 2015

 

My name is Vaia Taousianis, a speech therapist M.Sc. living in Greece, a country beset by socio-economic problems caused by the past governments.  During the recent national elections, I stood as a candidate at Greek parliament at ‘B’ Thessaloniki for the Gr.ee.ce party, a group with a vision for tackling the financial issues through sustainable development and using the rich natural and human resources already existing in the country.

Over the past few years, as the economic crisis unfolded, it became apparent that the solutions were not based upon empirical evidence or reality. Instead, they followed a shallow political ideology that failed to take into account how the various austerity programs affected the people. The austerity methodology used destroyed the balance of the market by collapsing the middle class.

Political showmanship rather than data and case studies underpinned reforms that have failed the people of Greece and Europe. This systematic mishandling of the Greek economy and the lack of genuine political reforms, reliable methodologies, data, and surveys, has led to economic suicide.

My personal opinion is that we need a more quantitative approach to the Greek crisis, perhaps through a project operated by a leading, independent institution such as Yale University, which has a wealth of data and expertise that could provide a better answer to the issues. Such an approach would leverage the wealth of research held at Yale University library and other institutions possible documenting the effects of previous IMF programs.

The other part of the program would look at building a greener future for Greece, with ideas such as clean energy that will make use of sustainable resources. As an example, last year, investors spent 207 billion dollars on clean energy in the UK, Germany, Japan, the US, and China. There is no reason why Greece cannot benefit from this movement, considering its natural resources.

We would also like to see a more organic and biological approach to food production, promoting a healthy lifestyle based on the Mediterranean lifestyle. Such an approach would also help to alleviate many health problems.

In terms of political structures, we would like to see a more interactive and direct approach to democracy, taking, where there are more referenda on matters of national interest and a more participatory democracy. This would work alongside much-needed reforms of the legislature and judiciary that would promote political selflessness and prevent self-serving politicians from subverting democracy.

Finally, we would also look at stripping immunity from political representatives and eliminating the state funding for parties which has seen widespread misappropriation. Only with a long-term view of political and economic reform, alongside a more ecological lifestyle, as proposed by the Gr.ee.ce party, can Greece finally begin to develop a dynamic and robust modern economy according, Yale University research and project in Greece.  I hope the new government in Greece to have better results. I stood up as a candidate just to say my political ideas. The Gr.ee.ce party suggested to me to do this. I do not agree with many ideas with this political party.