On the floor of the Plenary, the deputy minister to the prime minister and government representative, Pavlos Marinakis, mentioned three very important issues that must be avoided in the debate on the country’s annual budget for 2025. “The first is by presenting the successes achieved by the Greek economy to celebrate and forget that many of our fellow citizens are still having a hard time. The second is to devalue the progress that has been made by falling into the trap of populism. The third is to be seduced by the sirens of inexpensive promises that at first sound pleasant to the citizens and in the end turn out to be deeply harmful to all of us,” he said.

He then explained the “four big goals that emerge from Budget 2025″. As he stated: “Goal one: More jobs, better jobs, with better wages. Everything we have done so far serves this goal. Within five years, 500,000 new jobs were created through our policy. In percentage terms, unemployment has fallen from 19.2% to just over 9% in 2024, within five years. In short, half a million answers to anyone wondering how to lower taxes and increase government tax revenue. Half a million jobs closer to the increase in competition in the labor market which ultimately strengthens the bargaining power of employees, with the consequence that we are committed to constantly creating new jobs and, of course, better paid ones as possible”.

At this point he made a special reference “to youth unemployment which is still – to tell the truth in this room – high compared to the rest of Europe, but within five years it has gone from 36% to 17%”. He underlined that “the Mitsotakis government has proven by its actions that there is another way, a way of approaching young people with the first and foremost weapon of giving them the opportunity to have a decent job instead of being paid with the unemployment benefit”.

Continuing, he emphasized that “the second goal is to support the family. We can look each new mother and father in the eye, knowing that we are exhausting all fiscal space to support them. We are there, especially for new mothers. Let’s not forget that a few years ago a new mother received a little over 800 euros in this very difficult new beginning of her life. Now if you add up the maternity allowance and the birth allowance, this money reaches up to 10,000 euros for the first months of this new sacred role. The vouchers for nursery schools, the abolition of the tax from 1-1-2025 for health insurance for children up to 18 years old, these and many more – not to bore you, the emphasis, for example, on the raises for civil servants, on those who are parents – the government plans them and many such initiatives are included in the next budget”.

He added that “so what I want all parents to know is that we are here, we are here to continue with a steady pace and a costed plan the effort to relieve the burdens they carry every day”.

And as a third objective he mentioned “the support of the middle class which suffered in previous years the greatest damage to its incomes. We strengthened the middle class, first and foremost, by reducing or abolishing within five years over sixty tax rates and ladies and gentlemen MPs and direct taxes and indirect taxes, twenty-three indirect taxes in particular.

We will do the same in 2025, an additional twelve tax cuts – it is very important to emphasize this in a country that for too many years had accustomed the citizens to the opposite. From the abolition of the self-employment tax for freelancers to the exemption from insurance premium tax, health insurance policies for children up to 18 years old, from the reduction of an additional 1% -6% in total, the reduction of insurance contributions will reach from 1-1-2025- the additional reduction of ENFIA for properties that are insured, another 20%.

And of course, because we looked the farmers in the eyes and promised them some concrete satisfaction of reasonable requests, we will proceed to make permanent the return of the excise tax on agricultural oil”.

He emphasized that “so this is a fair policy, because through these tax reductions we have been able to increase, as I said before, tax revenues? Because what does the middle class want, what do those who some ironically in previous years called “housewives” want? They are the ones who consistently every month from the backlog of their income pay the state, pay their obligations, endure and keep our country standing. This is the middle class. He wants two things: Less taxes – we are constantly trying to reduce taxes and we will reduce more taxes in the coming years – and for those taxes that they pay to go somewhere, to get somewhere.

And yes, the money that citizens give to the state is starting to pay off, it is starting to show in better hospitals, with 73% more funding for health, in better schools, in more doctors by 10% in five years, in preventive examinations -which was an unknown concept for the country- to a new prevention culture for Civil Protection, to a digital state that is no longer an anecdote, but is a reality and of course, to retirees who, beyond increases they get – yes, not enough – they get their pension in a few months and not in three years. This is what the middle class wants. Obviously, we need to give it more and it must also be at the top of our priorities in 2025 and above all, in the following years.”

In closing, he mentioned as the fourth goal, “housing, one of the biggest problems faced mainly by younger people and not only in Greece, but also in the rest of Europe and especially those who rent a house and have a family.

I will not tell you that we are solving the problem with what honorable Members will vote for in Budget 2025. But I will tell you that there is a plan to reduce the impact. There is the “My Home II” Program, following on from the first Program, there are specific tax breaks to convert a property from short-term to long-term rental, the “Renovate-Rent” Program, the “Upgrade my Home” Program.

There is a specific plan and a specific policy and, of course, support for specific allowances, such as the increase in the student-housing allowance”.

Mr. Marinakis closed with a personal statement saying: “As I told you, I remember watching on TV debates about previous budgets. Then I and all my peers had a question: Which country will fit us? In which country can we work? And unfortunately, the most popular answer was definitely: Not in Greece. And for those of us left behind it was even more difficult.

Because I have heard from many members of the opposition that we are only talking with numbers, we are only talking with some data, which in fact, while they are objective and accepted by Europe as a whole, in any case, I will tell you a number that I consider to be important, because it refers to people. Three hundred and fifty thousand new people returned to the country in recent years out of the six hundred and eighty thousand who had left. So these, the three hundred and fifty thousand young people together with those who stayed behind and endured the difficulties, all together give the signal that Greece is coming back.

The fact that strong European states, large economies are looking for even a few months of political stability and here we continue to build with solid foundations, despite the many difficulties that still exist, means that Greece is getting stronger and that in the most difficult years of the biggest crises, in years global inflationary crisis and wars we endured thanks to our politics, but mainly thanks to the patience and hard work of the citizens, it means that Greece can certainly do much more”.

The government spokesman concluded his speech in the Budget debate by pointing out: “2024 leaves with a contradiction indeed. Significant progress, very good news, good course of the Greek economy, reduction of unemployment, better wages than they were and indeed, despite the unprecedented accuracy, higher increases than inflation increases, but also certainly too many difficulties for the citizens. In 2025, we have every reason to believe that the belief that our country is moving forward will be established. The goal in 2026 and 2027 is for more and more of our fellow citizens to experience this development, to understand this improvement, to definitely feel in their pockets a significant improvement in their daily life.

So, we have a specific plan to achieve this. This is our plan, which we have every reason to believe will be implemented.”