Food price hikes are not justified, Minister of State Makis Voridis clarified, speaking to action24 television station. Speaking of filthy lucre, he announced intensive, strict controls and corresponding penalties.

“There is no justifying basis, today, for a large and serious disturbance in the issues of food supply and demand”, he noted in the introduction, explaining afterwards: “Because, yes, the agricultural damages are extensive, but they concern productions, which are either cotton – so they do not affect food – or grain, where there are import mechanisms, which therefore balance the demand”. Acknowledging that the problem may concern very specific food categories, eg apples, he went on to say that in pork production in Greece is a very small part of the total demand.

“Such revaluation phenomena are not justified. It’s profiteering and psychological management”, he complained immediately afterwards and added: “Those who talk about shortages, beware again: a temporary shortage, which is based on a disruption of the supply chain – a truck cannot arrive in time, say – is different and different to talk nationally about price disruption. There are no objective reasons for price disruption, whoever does it is taking advantage of a psychological condition. We discussed, the controls on this will be spectacularly intensified and the penalties accordingly. Anyone who does this is absolutely unacceptable, because they are exploiting a need and a psychological condition and not objective conditions. Controls will be intensified and will be extremely strict,” he warned in conclusion.

Asked, in another matter, to comment on the rumors of a reshuffle, he wondered “how likely is it at this juncture that the prime minister – who has to deal with all these problems and the Coordinating Council meets every day – […] to think when he will make a reshuffle? Possibly in a question about attribution of responsibilities, there was also an answer – which I find reasonable – that everyone is evaluated. This was understood by a portion of your colleagues that here there is a crisis of evaluation that will lead us to a restructuring. And, I bet that in two or three months we will open the discussion on early elections”, he closed his answer in a mocking manner.

Referring to the issue of people in Thessaly who have become homeless, the Minister of State pledged that at the end of November “there will not be a person with a housing problem”.

With regard to the reactions against the governor of Thessaly, the minister, after describing the situation in which the affected people are now living, stated that he understands their reactions, just as he also understands – he added – the attempt of the regional governor “to do what , what can be done in order to mitigate the consequences of a very difficult phenomenon”.

In another interview, on the ‘Open’ television station, earlier, M. Voridis had said about the intervention of the Prosecutor of the Supreme Court that “the Prosecutor’s Office is doing well and will do its investigation”. And, to which, after all, the authorities will contribute, he added. Referring, finally, to compensations, he argued that four years ago a compensation mechanism did not even exist.