The Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, spoke about announcements by the Greek government on the housing problem, during the press conference he gave on Thursday evening after the end of the work of the European Council in Brussels.

In a question about the discussion, which took place in the European Council on the subject, the Greek Prime Minister emphasized that “the Greek government has unveiled a comprehensive plan for the housing issue” again invoking her measure return of a full rent at the end of November.

“First of all, the Greek Government has unfolded, I believe, a thorough plan to deal with the housing problem, which addresses the acute problem from both the demand side and the supply side”he initially said. “Indeed, the measure that will be implemented at the end of November, i.e. the return of a full rent to all tenants up to the amount of 800 euros, is a very important initiative to stimulate the income of those currently in rent. But it is not the only measure, obviously, which the Greek Government implements”.

Mr. Mitsotakis he then did not fail to express his satisfaction for the specific debate at the European level and underlined that “Europe has a role to play by giving us more flexibility to use European programmes.”

“I am happy because this discussion took place for the first time at the European level. It was an opportunity to be able to discuss and compare our experiences with other European countries. In fact, I asked the European Commission to be able to create a database so that we could examine, present, discuss with other countries which policies were effective, which ones were not.” noted Mr. Mitsotakis.

And he continued: “We have common problems, say, with other countries of the South: how do we deal with the issues of short-term rental? What limitations should we put on these issues?

Obviously, these are primarily issues of national policy. Europe, I believe, has a role to play, giving us, in the first instance, greater flexibility in the use, possibly, of European programs, for example, for house repairs, without being strictly limited to the fact that these repairs only concern energy upgrading”.

The prime minister spoke of announcements from the Greek government in this direction, pointing out that we can be at the forefront of these initiatives. In view of the next budget we should also consider European financial instruments to deal with the housing problem.

“Expect announcements from the Greek Government in this direction relatively soon, as I believe that we may be at the forefront of such initiatives, having of course the agreement of Europe”characteristically said Mr. Mitsotakis.

“From there, in view of the next multi-annual program – I am now referring to the current period, the current NSRF -, but in view of the next budget, to also explore European financial tools to address the housing problem, I believe that will be one of the priorities that we will discuss, when the time comes to have the discussion on the new European budget”, concluded the prime minister.