Greek Fin. Min. Staikouras on the Eurogroup’s decision

“The Eurogroup, yesterday took a landmark decision for Greece which is historic”, stressed the Minister of Finance Christos Staikouras referring to the decision to free up last tranche of debt support worth 6 bln€. The Minister wasspeaking from Brussels, via teleconnection, in the Plenary during the discussion of the bill on the “Incorporation into Greek legislation of the Directive (EU) 2019/2235 – Ratification of an Additional Act to the New Co-Promise between the Greek State and the Maritime Community and tax arrangements for shipping – Emergency tax and customs arrangements – Institutional framework for the operation of the Central State Aid Unit and the State Aid Network – Wage arrangements and other provisions.”

The Minister of Finance, characteristically, underlined that “today is a good day for the country, society and citizens with the recognition of their long-term sacrifices by the Institutions and all partners. Last night, at its meeting, the Eurogroup took a landmark decision for Greece that is historic, as described by the head of the Eurogroup, the vice-president of the European Parliament, Paolo Gentiloni, and the head of the European Stability Mechanism.

It is, said Mr. Staikouras, “a recognition of the progress of the Greek economy, of its strong resilience in a difficult period with external crises, but also of its positive prospects. It is a recognition of the consistency in the implementation of reforms and the effectiveness in the implementation of the national plan of the Recovery and Resilience Fund.”

The minister said that “beyond this strengthening of the country’s image abroad, it is important that yesterday the further relief of the public debt was achieved, by 6 billion euros. As well as something extra, which is the permanent zeroing, for the first time, of an additional interest margin from 2023 onwards”.

This, Mr. Staikouras said, “is a logical effort of the country which was crowned with success, which was recognized” and added “We will continue to responsibly work with a plan, with confidence in the capabilities of our country but also with full awareness of the difficulties, in order to make Greece even stronger and its economy more dynamic, productive, extroverted and socially fair”.

This government, the Minister of Finance pointed out, will continue to solve problems in the best possible way with elements of economic efficiency and social justice “as in this bill that faces time-consuming pending issues, such as the one we are doing with the Co-promissory note with shipping, where it ensures and ensures that more revenue will be collected on an annual basis and also the collection of the deficit from the Co-Pledge of the previous government, while we also expand the perimeter. The other pillar of the bill is that we support sectors of the economy such as construction and social housing. Let’s continue to bravely support society with various measures as well as reduction of permanent or non-permanent taxes through a balanced policy that we follow.

Referring to yesterday’s announcement by the Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, about the horizontal allowance of 600 euros to the Police and Coastguards, Mr. Staikouras said that “when we find fiscal space, through an increase in spending we support our compatriots in the short term, as with this allowance that 61,000 of our fellow citizens will receive.”

In addition, with the provisions of the bill, the minister added, we also support workers such as those of the Skaramangas shipyards and LARCO with the provisions of the ministerial amendment that has been submitted.

The Minister of Finance asked the Opposition parties to vote in favor of the bill that specifically addresses the problems of society in the best possible way