Reply to Alexis Tsipras for the costing of the programs, the representative of New Democracy gives with his announcement Akis Schertsos.

Mr. Skertsos calls his president SYRIZA to officially submit his program with all fiscal measures, so that the competent agencies can assess it.

In more detail, the statement of Mr. Skertsos:

“President, come with taxes”!

We are glad that, even with a delay of one ballot box, Mr. Tsipras recognizes the need for his program to be costed – beyond his financial staff – and by the General Accounting Office of the State or any competent state body he wishes, as we have repeatedly requested.

It would be a welcome project for him to officially submit his program with all the fiscal measures in every detail to the Interim Government, so that they can be re-quantified by the competent agencies. We ask, however, that in this process he does not forget to submit all the measures included in his program, including those he added after the quantification he did in TIF, as well as the increases in spending he proposes in Health and Education. And most importantly, to file the proposed tax increases in every detail.

As far as the New Democracy program is concerned, it is in perfect agreement with the objectives set in the Stability Program submitted a few weeks ago to the European Commission.

Specifically, the Stability Program includes in the base scenario, the cost of increasing pensions each year based on GDP and inflation (estimated at 450 million euros in the first year and increasing, so as to cumulatively reach 800 million euros in 2025, 1.1 billion euros in 2026 and 1.5 billion euros in 2027), as well as the announced by the TIF, an increase in the salaries of civil servants from 1/1/2024 (by 500 million euros), as well as the increase in disability allowances (by 95 million euros) effective from May.

The Stability Program also explicitly mentions the additional fiscal measures that have been announced after the announcement of the elections, amounting to 0.1% of GDP in 2024 and 0.3% of GDP in 2025 and 2026, which are covered by the available fiscal space. These include in detail the tax-free increase of 1,000 euros for families with children (cost of 77 million euros per year), the increase of 8% of the minimum guaranteed income (cost of 49 million euros per year), the gradual abolition of the pretense fee (cost of 89 million euros in 2025, 222 million euros in 2026 and 443 million euros in 2027), the gradual reduction of insurance contributions (at a cost of 230 million euros in 2025 and 2026 and 509 million in 2027), the increase of the allowance maternity leave for freelancers and farmers (at a cost of 40 million euros per year), the permanency of the exemption of former E.K.A.S. beneficiaries. from their participation in the pharmaceutical expenditure (at a cost of 38 million euros per year), the youth pass for young people coming of age (at a cost of 30 million euros per year) and the 10% ENFIA reduction for houses insured against natural disasters (at a cost of about 40 million euros per year).

The total cost of the above measures amounts to 1.3 billion euros in 2024, 2 billion euros in 2025, 2.5 billion euros in 2026 and 3.3 billion euros in 2027. This is also the calculated fiscal space that we have according to the provisions of the Stability Program.

We therefore ask Mr. Tsipras to tell us where he will find the 83 billion euros over the four years, what taxes he intends to impose and whether he intends to put the Greek economy back into an excessive deficit process, with a new supervisory framework and an indefinite postponement of investment grade.

And if you have any question about the quantification of any of our measures, let us know and we will gladly ask for it to be certified again by the competent services of the General Accounting Office of the State.

In the meantime, we will continue to talk about the Greece of the future, about higher wages, more investment, lower taxes, better hospitals, a more digital state, a better environment, strong defense and greater security at our borders and cities.