Mitsotakis: increase in wages and pensions, permanent reduction of VAT

The New Democracy leader mentioned his government program for the next four years and his meeting with Barack Obama.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis spoke about meeting with Barack Obama, saying he had a very meaningful conversation with him. In a TV interview, the head of New Democracy noted that Barack Obama played a key role during the Greek crisis as he put pressure on Europeans not to leave Greece.

“He is a very active citizen and a man of wide knowledge,” he said, adding that they had a creative discussion on various issues that concern him, such as artificial intelligence. “We must think rationally so that it becomes a tool for progress, not for undermining democracy.”he said, announcing that he was preparing an advisory committee on the question of the place of Greece “in the new world that opens up”. He added that there are excellent scientists in Greece who are very active.

Nothing has been decided yet
As for the elections next Sunday, the president of the New Democracy party stressed that nothing had been decided yet. “Our main opponent at the ballot box is complacency and the feeling that the result is already discounted. Nothing has been discounted. The result of the first round gives us a good idea of ​​how the electorate will settle down at the ballot boxes on June 25. I will be glad, if the turnout increases. I also look at the results of the polls and should prepare, and I am optimistic. Low tone, no discounts on the election results,” he said, emphasizing that for him at the moment respect for the verdict of the people is above all.

Wage increase is the main goal
Speaking of his commitment to higher wages, he said it was a central political goal and the measure by which he wants to measure the success of a second term. “I admit that wages in our country are still low. Maybe the average salary can reach 1,500 euros. In the private sector, this is not determined by ministerial decisions or by law. This is due to private investment, lower unemployment and an increase in the bargaining power of an employee,” he continued, emphasizing, among other things, the need to restore collective bargaining. Speaking about the minimum wage, he noted that within four years it could reach 950 euros.

As for pensions, the president of New Democracy said they have increased for the first time in 12 years and will continue to increase in line with the growth of the economy. He announced that pensioners will see another increase in 2024, and the government will continue to support low-pension pensioners who fall victim to the personal difference until it is “wiped off the face of the earth.” “And because I believe the economy will continue to improve, at the end of the year we will have the opportunity to help the most vulnerable,” he added.

In addition, Kyriakos Mitsotakis promised not to raise taxes, but to keep cutting them. In this regard, he reiterated the phasing out of the business tax, an increase in the tax-free allowance of 1,000 euros for each additional child, and an increase in benefits for civil servants.

“My goal is to consider a permanent VAT reduction by the end of the four-year period. I do not support what the opposition is proposing. I think it’s a very achievable goal,” he added.

Speaking about the three-year recruitment plan, he noted that the goal is to increase the number of medical workers, whom he says are in short supply, especially nurses. He also said that a corrective regulation would be developed to expedite procedures and confirmed that the new NHS (National Health System of Greece) is a matter of his personal responsibility as the leader of the state. “I’m tired of responding to fake news about NHS privatization.” – he said.

Regarding private universities, he said that the debate on changing Article 16 of the Constitution would be open in the 2025 process. “Universities can be private, subject to strict state control. I will be very insistent on this. They will have high standards. But my whole focus is on the state university. It was supported by the government, universities were liberalized. We managed to withdraw bachelors from universities. We support them and create new hostels. Greece becomes the center of education”– he said.

Concerning food inflationhe said that it persists, and this is the problem. “I think we’ve seen the worst, but we haven’t solved the problem”, – he said, and about lending rates, he assessed that we are at the end of a cycle of their increase, which is being decided by the ECB. Regarding the solution to the problem of price inflation, he noted that the market is not weak, but that benefits cannot be the solution, but rather income support through higher wages, lower taxes and better functioning of the market.

At the same time, he reiterated that water privatization is impossible. “EYDAP And EYATH were transferred to the superfund for privatization by Mr. Tsipras. He is the last person who can blame us because he put these two companies in a superfund. One of the first steps of the government will be to return these companies to the Ministry of the Environment, and with that the debate will be closed. I don’t expect Mr. Tsipras to apologize for his words. Citizens weigh trust in both”, – he said.

On the plans of the new government, he said that he spoke about the creation of a new Ministry of Family and Social Cohesion, and that presidential decrees would be issued immediately. “In Greece, the parliamentary system dictates that the government must be sworn in immediately, on Tuesday-Wednesday. For me, this is not a sign of arrogance, but good preparation, to be prepared. We have learned lessons from the functioning of the executive state, we know that we want to improve “– he said.

He also said that the Ministry of Sports will be transferred to the Ministry of Education at the level of Deputy Minister, while the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure will remain the same.

On the issue of the Rhodopes, he said that he would raise it before Tayyip Erdogan, since interference in the internal affairs of another country is unthinkable. “I regret that the issue was not closed in the simplest way – by a statement that they respect the Lausanne Treaty. I hope that they will prove the opposite to me. My message was addressed not to Mr. Tsipras, but to Turkey, since there was a strong interference in the internal affairs of another country, and this must stop, he added.

“We are far from having the far right in Greece have a coherent political expression,” he said, adding that citizens with “heightened patriotic concerns” should be embraced by the politics of the southwest, while he spoke of a conscious effort to capturing religious feelings. “There can’t be parties that say they express Orthodoxy. Now we understand what’s going on,” he said.

Speaking about the course of the opposition after the elections, he wished that the opposition quickly found its way. He added: “I was saying even before May that Syriza is a bad government and an even worse opposition, because it represents everything in black, and that Mitsotakis is to blame for everything. I’m surprised they didn’t say that I was also to blame in the sinking of a deep-sea vessel in the Atlantic And they presented a picture of a country that has nothing to do with reality Add vulgarity and toxicity This cocktail brought Syriza to 20% What will happen to the opposition, time will tell It obliges us to be opposition to ourselves,” he added.

Source link