Meetingin the following days, with the object of ferry ticket prices, will be held with the participation of the Ministry of Shipping and representatives of shipping, and the aim is “to examine what exactly is happening with ferry prices and tickets”. This was made known by minister of state Akis Schertsos, in an interview with the Real FM radio station – and, as he characteristically pointed out, “obviously, there we see that there are cases where some significant increases are recorded. Here it should be taken seriously that fuel prices have fallen. Some explanations must be given by the shipping market, because there are increases.”

In general, to be precise, the Minister of State clarified, “we are against any unjustified price increase” and “when excesses are observed, there will be fines”. It is, after all, he continued, “the No. 1 problem for incomes, for households, for workers.” “We are doing everything we can to have a dynamic recovery of the economy and incomes”, he insisted and set the goal, “through greater increases in wages and pensions to be able to have an increase in the disposable income of consumers and citizens” . At this point, he referred to the bill of the Ministry of Finance, which will be voted on in July and in which there will be an extension of the market pass.

Regarding general inflation, he repeated that “Greece is among the five countries in Europe that register the fastest decrease”. While regarding the increase in food prices, he replied that it is “a seasonal phenomenon” and noted: “At the moment there is an increase in the prices of rice, it is due to its international prices. There is an increase in olive oil prices, caused by the drought in various countries. There is an increase in fresh fruit, due to the bad weather in May, a purely seasonal phenomenon. There is an increase in sugar prices, there is a disturbance in its international prices.”

In conclusion, “energy inflation is receding, it has now returned to negative prices, this should come and affect the prices of other goods as well. Controls are continuous” as to the scope of profitability, which “cannot be unjustified in relation to pre-crisis levels”, he added.

About the meeting between Mitsotakis and Erdogan

Parenthetically, he also referred to the upcoming meeting of Messrs. Mitsotakis and Erdogan, A. Skertsos. “We want to see the re-election of both Greek and Turkish leaderships as an opportunity for a new page in Greek-Turkish relations. We know that the problems are difficult, there are our own fixed positions. Our country is firmly in favor of dialogue with Ankara, based on International Law, with the aim of settling the one and only Greek-Turkish dispute, which is the delimitation of the EEZ and the continental shelf in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean. Beyond that, we do not accept any other Turkish claim or claim whatsoever. This is clear – and before the election, specific messages were sent to the Turkish side in relation to the interventionism it showed in the areas where there is a Muslim minority”, he pointed out.

In Health, beyond the goal, within the four years, of the reorganization of the EKAB, he underlined the short-term actions in the specific Organization, which have to do with supplementing the ambulance crews with drivers, especially during the tourist season. And this, therefore, “will be visible during the summer”. Invoking, moreover, the relevant announcements by the Prime Minister and the Minister of Health, he referred to the creation of a new Corps at the EKAB, two-wheeler-rescuers, with the recruitment of 200-250 workers. They will act as the vanguards of the ambulances, he explained. Subject, which “can also run, at the level of announcing positions, now in the summer. Relevant actions have been taken with the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of the Interior.”

In the developments regarding the vote of the emigrants, the Minister of State recalled that New Democracy, PASOK and Hellenic Solution had voted in favor of the government’s proposal, the previous four years. These three parties, today, have a total of 202 MPs, in addition “Mrs. Konstantopoulou has placed herself in favor and from then on it remains for the rest of the parties to be placed”. “Ideally, we would like all 300 members of Parliament to vote for this self-evident regulation. In other words, that Greeks living abroad should be able to exercise their constitutionally guaranteed right. To be able to vote, that is, for both the national elections and the European elections”, he said. At the same time pointing out, “it is one of the many outstanding issues that come from the past and which this government and our Prime Minister, Mr. Mitsotakis, has committed to solving” he emphasized: “In other words, we have to finish things, which have plagued us for many years and the political system hid under the carpet”.

Two class citizens in education

With regard to private higher education, after repeating the stated position of the ruling party, in favor of the revision of Article 16, he added: “The prime minister in his programmatic statements said that we will initiate the process of speeding up, through interstate agreements, the possibility to settle in Greece non-state universities so that we can break the state monopoly. For us it is very important to strengthen public higher education, the good public university – and in the past four years we have taken many steps in this direction. At the same time, however, we must recognize that there is a European anachronism: Greece is the only European country that does not allow the establishment and operation of private higher education institutions. There is private post-secondary education, but it does not confer academic rights, it only confers professional rights.”

This, according to Mr. Skertsos, creates “a series of problems in people’s lives and most importantly, citizens of two categories: a Greek citizen can get a degree from a private institution, tertiary, in a European country, have both professional and academic rights, but cannot do so in his own country. You understand what this means in relation to brain drain […] what does it mean in income leakage?’

And, in conclusion, “in Greece we can have good non-state universities, just as we can have many good universities – and we want to have very good public universities. Fair academic competition will significantly improve the services provided to students, students of both categories […] people will return, whether they are academics or Greeks working abroad or children who will now be able to study in Greece, instead of going abroad. It is a debate that has been resolved by life”, as well as “at the level of Union legislation also, the issues have been resolved”.