eKathimerini — The Greek government hopes to increase social spending, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told the Government Council for Social Policy on Wednesday, while criticizing former ruling parties PASOK and New Democracy for dismantling the country’s welfare state.
“Greece unfortunately was a neoliberal guinea pig for Europe, and the old political establishment willingly became an experiment that saw the plunder of society,” Tsipras said adding that previous administrations had left the majority of the nation’s population unprotected in the face of the financial crisis.
Although the number of poor and unemployed skyrocketed as a result of austerity policies imposed by the country’s lenders, welfare spending declined, the leftist premier told the council.
Tsipras said that his government would seek to restructure the country’s welfare state, streamline the health sector and reverse deregulation in the labor market.
