Economy and elections were, basically, the two issues raised by the Minister of State.Aki Scherzoin an interview with the television station “Mega”.

Starting with the climate of the European elections, the Minister of State noted that the European elections are the fifth ballot box in a year, therefore it is reasonable to be tired. But, he added, “the stakes are not small,” given that the lives of Greeks are affected by Brussels’ decisions.

The Greek Prime Minister’s letter to President of the European Commission on the differentiated prices of multinational companies from market to market underlines the importance of the European decisions that are taken or may be taken in the next period and which can affect the Greek basket, he said with the additional remark that the prime minister, with his letter, entered at the heart of the problem. This prime minister who is a … dependent of interests, according to the opposition, mockingly commented ‘A. Schertz.

The issue of accuracy is intractable and cannot be solved by a single country, hence the usefulness of Europe in this, but also other issues, such as immigration, defense, etc.”

At another point in the interview, he noted that there are categories of products and services, for example in telecommunications, where a price reduction has been observed since 2019, according to the measurements of Eurostat. But also in food there are signs of de-escalation, he added.

The accuracy is gnawing at the incomes and the increases that the government has given, but “we are fighting a battle”, he underlined, also setting the goal of better functioning of competition in our country.

Focusing, immediately afterwards, on the price of olive oil, he explained that its price has risen internationally due to bad weather conditions and the climate crisis, with the most typical example being Spain, where a large reduction in production is observed. Oil is an international product, he also clarified, so prices have increased internationally, while he insisted that its price in Greece is not the most expensive. If, in fact, olive oil is removed from food inflation, then it will be found that it runs at the same rate (2.8%) as the rest of Europe.

At this point, he launched an attack against the leader of the official opposition, Stefanos Kasselakis: he uses fake news, he accused him in particular, and this, because, as he said, the president of SYRIZA – Progressive Alliance compares dissimilar products, organic with ordinary oil, but also different packaging , in this case 500 and 750 ml. These are illegal trades, he added.

For his program SYRIZA – P.S. and its cost, ‘A. Skertsos initially remarked that “we finally saw a draft law from the opposition”, which was officially costed through the General Accounting Office of the State. The bill says 45.7 billion euros over the four-year period, he pointed out about the official opposition’s program and added: it is “a recipe that throws us into bankruptcy and bankruptcy.” While he continued with the government’s argumentation on VAT: its reduction, in any countries where the measure was applied, did not work, he said and gave the example of Spain, where inflation is higher than that in Greece.

However, he also criticized another point of the SYRIZA program: the differentiated tax rate that he proposes, if implemented, will lead businesses to declare lower profitability, in order to have lower taxation, we will therefore have a “black hole of profitability”.

At the same time, he criticized the opposition proposals for dealing with demographics: they propose, he observed, tax-free for single-person households. They need support, he acknowledged, but if we have a surplus, it should go to young families, argued the Minister of State.

Closing with the political context, ‘A. Schertsos described the prime minister as a responsible and pragmatic politician. And, returning to his criticism of the opposition, he warned that “we cannot gamble with the fate of the country”, the fiscal and investment tier in particular. The whole world is talking about the “little Greek miracle”, he insisted.

On the other hand, the citizens have high demands from the government and they are right, he observed and closed by asking that the vote in the European elections show a flight forward, in order to make Greece a more European country and to make more reforms. “Let’s not waste this opportunity,” he concluded.