“Greece has climbed many steps in the last 4.5 years, because we follow a modern and European policy in our country, a policy of common sense.”

This was emphasized, among others, by the Minister of National Economy and Finance, Kostis Hatzidakis, speaking on Thursday night at an event organized in Patras by the Steering Committee of the Electoral District of Achaia, of the ND.

As he added, “this policy has led us to have growth rates four times higher than the average of the European Union, to have reduced unemployment by almost half and to have increased both the minimum and average wages, more than inflation”.

At the same time, he noted that “we continue forward with determination, always combining fiscal seriousness with a pro-investment policy, because these are the foundations for implementing a social policy”.

Also, Kostis Hatzidakis said that “the worst has actually been left behind, not only us, but all the countries of Europe”, adding that “we had an inflation, which was caused by the turbulence in the market, due to the COVID – 19 and from the international energy crisis”.

“All these months”, he continued, “inflation in Greece was around the European average” and he added: “For food inflation, the Ministry of Development both before and after the elections has taken a series of measures starting from basket of the household and ending with the last intervention. These interventions have worked and the latest special interventions I am sure will work even more. We are here, watching what is happening in other European countries, in order to deal with any malfunctions, not with slogans and easy words, but with very specific and targeted measures.”

At another point in his speech, Kostis Hatzidakis said that “we are practicing social policy in essence, because we were able and decisively dealt with the problem of unemployment, at the same time we were able to increase the minimum wage, but also the other wages above inflation and then resolved for years the issue of pending pensions”.

Referring to SYRIZA, he said that “when the opposition is looking for the result of the elections and tries to identify mistakes in its strategy, the answer is that they made mistakes in their strategy, because they insisted on an extreme, toxic and leveling opposition, but the main thing problem for those that led them to lose the elections, is that they had a serious, modern and effective government of the ND”

Returning to the issues of the economy, he said that “we are moving forward” and continued: “We had the privatization of Piraeus Bank. There they gave us eight times more money than what we were trying to get, and that’s because there is confidence in the economy.”

Furthermore, he said that “in foreign direct investments we have a record of the last 20 years, while in exports we made an all-time record for Greece, since from the 20% of the GDP we received, we led them last year to 50% of the GDP”.

He also said that “we received the deposits in the banks at 150 billion euros and now they are 200 billion euros”, adding that of the above 50 billion, 3/5 of the increase is from households, because the engine of the economy has come forward” .

During his speech, Kostis Hatzidakis made special reference to the European elections of June 9, saying that “the ballot box of the European elections is a serious, national ballot box that produces results in Brussels, that is, where a series of serious legislative initiatives for the our homeland”.

At the same time, he emphasized that “we need people who know Europe, who can fight vigorously and effectively for Greece, and they can be MEPs nominated and supported by the European party of Greece, the party that put Greece in Europe with Konstantinos Karamanlis, i.e. the New Democracy”.

He also said that “we will fight in the next period for the new NSRF, for the new, I want to believe, Recovery Fund and for the new agricultural policy”.

In fact, addressing the participants of the event, he underlined that “in the polls of June 9, we will make the ND strong, so that it can represent us again, dynamically and decisively in Europe”.

In his speech, Kostis Hatzidakis also referred to the Ministry of Education’s draft law on “Strengthening the Public University – Framework for the operation of non-profit branches of foreign universities”, saying that “our efforts continue unabated even after the elections in many different fields and more recent is the reform we are now pushing for non-state universities.’

He also said that “we are moving forward with this modern, liberal reform with determination and boldness, regardless of the reactions of the Left.”

At the same time, he noted that “the reactions in Greece are a world first and no one will remember them in a short period of time, while what will remain will be the specific basic reform and a big step in the direction of Europe”.