Tsoukalas: Government 'ideologising' higher education issues for partisan gain

“ We need seriousness, not the government's tactic of attempting to ideologise these issues for partisan gain. These matters require solutions and consensus-not media fireworks,” main opposition PASOK-Movement for Change press spokesperson Kostas Tsoukalas told SKAI TV on Monday, with respect to the handling of higher education matters.
Commenting on a meeting between Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the rectors of Greece's state universities on Monday, he stated that "controlled access is something that, in our view, should be implemented through a special entry card we have proposed." Elaborating on this further, he added: "We had proposed the creation of a special entry card and the establishment of an independent campus security unit. In fact, entry into institutions using a university ID card, which the government now wants to introduce, is something PASOK has been advocating for years."
"We believe in the autonomy of institutions, with each university having its own needs and issues. The state should intervene legislatively and mandate the development of security plans. Each institution has different needs," he said.
In the wake of the SAFE Regulation, which allows participation by third countries-such as Turkiye-in joint investments in European defence, Tsoukalas stated that “ there is a series of issues with Turkiye; it’s not just the casus belli. There is also the illegal occupation of 40% of Cyprus, the continued presence of the Aegean Army, claims for the demilitarisation of the islands, and obstruction of surveys to lay the electricity cable in the Greek Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).”
He noted that "all these matters raise serious concerns, and a question arises for the government: whether it agrees with the way the SAFE Programme is evolving, especially in relation to co-production involving companies that may be based in third countries."
He said that "the original plan concerned third countries whose companies would potentially be based in Europe. That has now changed. A company can now be directly based in a third country and still participate in a co-produced defence product by up to 35%. And this is happening at a time when the casus belli, the demilitarisation of the islands, and the undersea cable remain unresolved issues with the neighbouring country."
The PASOK spokesperson emphasised that "we do not consider the casus belli to be merely symbolic, but at the same time, we do not view it as a permanent measure that our country should trade off for Turkiye's entry into the European defence and security architecture.Today’s Turkiye has no place in it," he added.