“The top goal of the government for both 2025 and 2026 is the objective increase in the level of the Greek economy, the improvement of the indicators and the major indicators, but also the indicators that concern the daily life of the citizens” said the government representative Pavlos Marinakis.

Speaking to ERT, Mr. Marinakis pointed out that “all this should be translated more and more quickly, but without escaping in terms of public finances, in improving the lives of citizens. This is the top goal,” he pointed out.

He added that “No serious analyst disputes that Greece, the Greek economy, is back. Basically it’s back from the very deep underground and it’s starting to rise. But no one doubts that we still have a long way to go. We are not where the citizens want, the citizens still face objective and serious problems[…] Therefore, we have to look at them in particular, and much more specifically the middle class, by implementing a policy of tax de-escalation. Along with the 12 that are going down, plus some extra budget announcements, we’ve cut more than 70 tax rates since 2019, but we’ve also managed to raise revenue[…]».

He characteristically emphasized that “our policy is to grow the pie, that is, to create jobs, to increase the state’s revenues and for these increased state revenues from reduced taxes to be returned to society more and more quickly. There is no other recipe that does not bankrupt the country.”

“We are not going to have early elections”

At another point, Mr. Asked about this, Marinakis emphasized that “as the prime minister has said and as he did in the first four years, we will complete the four years and first God in 2027 will judge us and the opposition parties”. “As you understand, when we pass the first and go to the second, we go to the third year after the elections. There are two titles that sell the most: reshuffle and early elections. We are not going to have early elections. The reshuffle is the exclusive prerogative of the prime minister. I don’t know anything. I don’t feel like there’s anything like that on the horizon.”

“After the middle of January the announcements about PtD”

With reference to the name of the candidate PtD, he underlined that “it is the month of decisions, of announcements by the prime minister, as we have previously announced, persistently and consciously avoiding, out of respect for the institution of the President of the Republic, to prematurely start a debate, which would be and offensive to the institution. A few days or weeks of patience, somewhere in the middle towards the end of the month, when the prime minister decides to make the announcements, which will have both the explanation and the justification. Because as you know, Kyriakos Mitsotakis wants, where he is accountable to the Greek citizens, to all Greek citizens, to explain his every choice, every decision. Much less a top decision, such as the proposal for the next President of the Republic[…]».

“We have reduced 23 indirect taxes, 23 VAT”

Asked about the VAT reduction, he noted, among other things, that “we have reduced 23 indirect taxes, 23 VAT, we have reduced VAT for example, for coffee, not served, we have reduced VAT for transport, we have reduced VAT for cinema , for farmers, agricultural machinery, fertilizers, animal feed. That is, a series of taxes that have to do with the everyday life of citizens. 23 in total from 2019 to date[…]. I will tell you that taking a measure just to say you took it and then taking it back and making it worse doesn’t solve any problem. Greece paid a lot for these sorcerer’s apprentice practices that unfortunately were followed by too many governments and we will persist. Yes, we will insist on cutting taxes, continue to cut taxes, but at a cost[…]».

“Many measures for the housing crisis”

Still Mr. Marinakis noted “[…]it seems that housing is currently the top problem. Not only in Greece, but we have to see what we will do in our country, which also has a very difficult past of successive crises and economic crisis and the citizens were burdened much more. That’s why if you look at the budget, i.e. what we want to do now voted on the 25th, most of the measures have to do with dealing with or limiting the consequences of the housing crisis. We have the My Home 2 program, where 20,000 young people, 30 to 50 years old, will find their own home with a loan installment lower than rent, that is, an interest-free loan. We have the renovation program Renovate – Rent my Home. It is very important for citizens to see this as well. He has no household or financial, salary restrictions. It is addressed to all citizens. Very important program.

»We have a number of tax breaks that essentially put more properties on the market, stimulate the market to have a larger number of properties, to somehow bring prices down. That is, a tax exemption to open a closed house, to convert a short-term lease into a long-term lease. We have once again increased housing benefit for students. It is the second increase and is addressed to the entire Greek territory, i.e. the students of the province of the former regional universities. We have stimulation in general, i.e. all the policies related to the roof[…]».

“The measures taken by the government for the banks show that this government has a plan and does not legislate, it does not decide just to be pleasant for a few days. It wants to be effective for the citizens,” said Mr. Marinakis and emphasized that “[…]what do we want? banks, which are the largest source of foreclosed properties, to put these properties on the market]’.

For the event at the Constitution: “All the dead have exactly the same value”

Asked about the debate surrounding the New Year event at Syntagma, Mr. Marinakis said among other things “[…] There is no one who disagrees with the need to emphasize support for the Palestinian people and not for the terrorist Hamas. But when you talk about Palestine, I think you’re a hypocrite if you don’t also talk about the babies, the mothers, the young children who are hostages, who were lost and on the side of Israel that was attacked. When you want to go out with the Palestinian flag and you are doing well, you are a hypocrite if you have never thought of going out with the Ukrainian flag, because civilians were killed there, babies were killed there and people were hunted there just because someone wanted to attack. That is, all the dead have exactly the same value. When some people don’t realize this, some others, whether they are journalists, citizens or politicians, do very well and spot it. From then on, I repeat, we have a democracy. Everyone can express themselves as they want, everyone is judged and everyone is judged.”

Greek-Turkish: “Dialogue does not mean retreat”

Finally, speaking about Greek-Turkish, he said: “We want to continue the dialogue. Dialogue does not mean retreat. Dialogue means assertion. We are in no mood to even discuss issues of sovereignty. We don’t even put them on the table. We have one and only difference with Turkey: the definition of EEZ and continental shelf. We want this to be resolved on the basis of international law. I think we have a long way to go before we get to that point. We have achieved a lot through dialogue. We have eliminated the violations. The dialogue has contributed to the successful handling of the migration crisis compared to other countries. We have succeeded and we are also welcoming legal tourists.

“Turkey has not changed, just as Greece has not changed. Greece remains a country committed to international law. A country which will continue to claim everything it has claimed all these decades, without any possibility of retreating from all of it. Starring. I think that more important than the dialogue is which Greece participates in the dialogue. And yes, Greece at the beginning of 2025 is a leading country, much stronger defensively, diplomatically and with the EEZ agreements it has made and with the expansion in the Ionian Sea and with the Rafales and with the Bellaras and with the F- 35. With all this politics that matters. Our country is a strong country and non-permanent member for the next two years in the UN. All of that matters, so the goal, the main one, is a country that respects international law, a country that seeks peace to continue to grow stronger and to go into ’26 even stronger, even stronger than we came in. now”.