“Of course not” was the response of government representative Yannis Oikonomou to a journalist’s question whether the prime minister is opposed to the possibility of a debate between himself and the leader of the official opposition, Alexis Tsipras.

“The international situation, as we know, has given birth to many new problems, while at the same time it has exacerbated many others, which in the past the previous government put under the carpet, let them linger and torture the citizens” said the government spokesman, Giannis Economou, starting to inform the political editors.

“Our government is proving in practice that it listens to society, listens to citizens, bends to the problems that concern them and produces functional and mutually beneficial solutions within the margins of good governance and the economic capabilities of the state. Because for us politics – as we have said and above all as we have proven – is the solution of problems and this is our main difference, it is the main difference between the government and SYRIZA, for whom politics is toxicity, division, and the easy promises,” he added.

Afterwards, Mr. Economou spoke about the arrangements that were voted yesterday in the bill for the acquisition of encroached properties of private property of the State. He explained that, among other things, “with the bill that was passed yesterday, a definitive solution is given for households and businesses that for decades were held hostage with their properties volatile and essentially in question. Secondly, the out-of-court debt settlement mechanism is being improved and, in particular, its scope of application is being expanded.”

He explained that new categories of debts are included, such as debts in favor of third parties that were collected by the tax administration, the debtor is given the possibility to include in this procedure the maintenance of an informed or already regulated and informed debt, the obligation to justify the consent or non-consent is introduced consent of the proposed regulation by both the financial institutions and the debtors.

Also, the procedures are simplified and the prepayment penalty is time-barred.

Also, his exemption is extended LIGHT for 2023 of properties in areas that had been hit by natural disasters, the wages of workers in LARCO and at Skaramanga shipyardsregulating important expatriate issues and establishing tax incentives for those employed in floating natural gas reservoirs.

At this point he emphasized that SYRIZA, despite the indisputable benefit to the citizens, turned its back and insisted on the parliamentary absence imposed by Mr. Tsipras, who thinks that his party is something special and can insult democracy, scorning and degrading parliamentary procedures. She directly accused him of petty political expediencies and said that he proved that he gets a divorce even with the demands of society.

“They have proven to be ever-present in toxicity and division but ever-absent from societal support measures. After all, it wasn’t the first time,” he noted.

As for the enlarged “Household Basket”, the government representative pointed out that as of Wednesday, it is in its 17th week of implementation with prices being found to be stable or reduced in 91% of the products that have been included in its lists but also with significant additions. As of yesterday, the basket has been expanded by nine categories of products, and the “Lenting Basket” has been implemented, which will be valid until Holy Saturday with fasting products.

He added, thirdly, that following an agreement with the president of the Varvakiou Fish Market of Athens, a pilot “Household Basket” was launched for the whole of Lent at the Fish Market. It is even extremely important that significant price reductions have been achieved compared to last year.

As he underlined, based on the new price lists notified on Wednesday to the Ministry of Development and Investments by the supermarket chains, out of the total of 864 products in the “Household Basket” that are completely comparable, the price was reduced in 97 (11%) and in 692 (80%), remains stable and increased to 75 (9%).

He also said that starting this week the development ministry presents a full detailed comparison table with the total value of each basket by chain so that consumers can see which chains have reduced and by how much, and which have increased and by how much.

At this point he emphasized that while we as a country cannot do much to prevent international accuracy, anyone who says otherwise is lying, but we can and have done a lot to limit the problem. He noted that we have not thrown in a white towel and referred to measures that have been taken to support society due to the increase in energy prices but also accuracy in the market, with the “Household Basket”, Market Pass, controls in the market.

“The problem remains but we all have to understand that things would be much worse if we didn’t fight against it, if we didn’t implement the policies I described. The government does not lose sight of its objective, which is to deal with major imported crises and limit their impact on citizens’ lives. All our attention, all our energy has been focused for months in this area”, he noted.

Mr. Economou added that proof is the fact that yesterday, with the completion of the second day that the Market Pass platform was open, more than 1.2 million applications had been approved by the evening. A measure derived from the resources secured by the government from the taxation of excess profits in two companies, with the result that 85% of Greek households will benefit.

Finally, he referred to the visit of the American Minister of Foreign Affairs, Anthony Blinken, to Athens, highlighting the main conclusions from his meetings with the Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nikos Dendias.