The Minister of Development expressed the assessment that there will be no hot episode with Turkey, emphasizing that Greece is stronger and the neighboring country is weaker.
Confrontation on the attitude of the SYRIZA MEP, Stelios Kouloglou in the accusations he made against the Coast Guard Iason Apostolopoulos during an event in the European Parliament had the Minister of Development and Investment, Adonis Georgiadis with the SYRIZA MP, Christos Spirtzis, speaking to SKAI and the show “Today”.
«More than Erdogan’s nonsense, I was disturbed by the image of Kouloglou next to Apostolopoulos, who accused the port body of killing, drowning and throwing innocent people into the sea. It is to be expected that Erdogan will say something against Greece. SYRIZA must stop hiding behind various picturesquenessPointed out Mr. Georgiadis and called on Mr. Spirtzis to take a stand.
For his part, the former minister of the SYRIZA government stated that Mr. Kouloglou is “Noble man” and his attitude should not be misunderstood. In fact, he noted that “There are rumors on the islands and complaints to European organizations about the attitude of our country in relation to waves of migrants from the sea. And the government must respond. There are rules and conditions for how you treat someone who comes to the country illegally. “The government, instead of attacking, must be careful because all we need now is a condemnation from Europe.”
We will not have a hot episode with Turkey
On the issue of Greek-Turkish relations and when asked if the country is prepared for the bad scenario, the Minister of Development stressed that «I take it for granted that we will not have a hot episode and nothing more will happen than Turkey’s aggressive rhetoric. Greece is much stronger than two years ago and Turkey is much weaker. Kyriakos Mitsotakis with his foreign policy has pushed Erdogan a lot and he does not like that».
Commenting on the crescendo of Turkey’s provocation, Mr. Spirtzis noted that SYRIZA condemns Erdogan’s statements Noting, however, that the government has left too much room for Turkey and has not pushed the EU for sanctions.
«When we have these sanctions in Russia, it is impossible for the government not to raise the issue of sanctions against Turkey“, concluded.
We are working on various scenarios for fuel subsidy
In terms of fuel subsidythe Minister of Development stated that the government is working on various scenarios, however he ruled out the possibility of a horizontal reduction of taxes.
«Forex markets predict an increase in the price of oil. As long as the war lasts and the sanctions of the European states harden against Russia and therefore Russian oil is removed from the world market, there is less supply and the demand remains high – maybe even higher since the quantities of natural gas are lower – fuel prices will they increaseHe said.
As he stressed, “The government is working on various scenarios, but there is no end to it – as some people think. Greece has specific budgetary constraints and the idea that there is some hidden money that the state can spend non-stop and recklessly is not real.».
In this context, he noted that the government must first accurately measure the budget margins and then see “where it will give what”.
According to Mr. Georgiadis, the budgetary cost for a horizontal reduction of the fuel tax was estimated at 3.6 billion euros, money that the budget does not have and therefore such a measure is excluded.
