The fourth vice-president of the Parliament and Member of Parliament ‘Artas of SYRIZA-PS spoke of a “vicious cycle of low productivity, low wages and low living standards”, Olga Gerovasiliduring the discussion of the 2024 state budget.

Speaking about the economic policy of the ND government, he said that “the productive model of the country continues to be based on tourism, real estate and the acquisition of bad loans and not on high added value. Wages are among the lowest in the EU. Instead of converging, we are constantly diverging. At the same time, we are champions of food inflation, gas prices and housing costs. In the basic needs, that is, where citizens consume the largest percentage of their income,” said Mrs. Gerovasili.

Commenting on what was said by Finance Minister K. Hatzidakis for an “even higher economy”, Ms. Gerovasili said that (on the contrary) “Greek society is turning into a society of high inequalities and low expectations, high profitability for a few and low purchasing power for the many, high tax burden for households and small and medium-sized enterprises and tax immunity for the powerful”. The government pointed out, “he talks about imported inflation, quite simply because he doesn’t want to say the word profiteering”.

In closing, his deputy SYRIZA-PS said that the country needs major structural, fair, progressive reforms, stressing the need for support for work, for a strong welfare state, for a fair tax system, for a brave program to deal with the housing crisis, for a holistic plan to regulate private debt, for a new productive model, for controls against profiteering, for resilience against the consequences of the climate crisis.