Starting, however, with the problem of dead fish in Volos, the minister said that, based on the information given to the government, “by the weekend, maybe at the beginning of the week, the whole area will have been cleaned”. In any case, he added, “a very serious check must be made and responsibilities must be assigned.”
In addition, “financial support to the Region of Thessaly is permanent, there is a program of at least 3.5 billion euros for the losses from “Daniel”. Everyone knows that this government stands by every entrepreneur, every business that experiences some problems due to natural disasters or environmental problems,” he pointed out.
In a general political comment, then, ‘A. Schertsos called it “absolutely reasonable” for citizens to be critical of any government, and this is because, as he explained, “the citizens have suffered a lot in our country from irresponsible, populist governments.” But, he continued, “many, bold steps have been taken in the last five years.”
And about the image of the opponents of the government, he said that “we have a collapse of the opposition, the people do not find an alternative proposal to it. It is much stricter (the people) towards the government for this reason, the bar is very high for the government, it is rightly demanding”.
In the chapter, International Exhibition of Thessaloniki, immediately after, he predicted that “the criticism that is being made, that the government has somehow … sat down, will be answered”. And, giving a first answer, he emphasized: “In the first year of its second term, the government has implemented pivotal, historic reforms, which no other government, for decades, dared. I am reminded of the judicial map, the reorganization of the courts, the non-state – non-profit universities. Sacred cows, taboo subjects that no one had dared to touch, this government managed them, brought them to Parliament, voted on them and now they are being implemented.”
Then the Minister of State referred, with numbers, to the situation in Education, Health, etc. In particular, in Education he said that from 2019 to date “we have added 37,500 permanent teachers, plus 10,000 this year alone”.
But, “the big patient is the NHS”, he said, recalling that during the ten-year crisis, spending by the NHS was reduced, which in 2019 was “in a very bad state”. Today, 8,000 more doctors and nurses work in the NHS. Are we where we want to be? No we are not. We have said we will add another 10,000.”
Regarding the vacancies of doctors on islands for example, he observed that “significant financial incentives” are given, yet the competitions come out fruitless. While he praised the “very great effort by the Minister of Health, Mr. Georgiadis, and the Deputy Minister, Mr. Themistokleous. Let’s go to cure a problem that had festered for decades”, he commented on the other hand.
In addition, “we have secured through the Recovery Fund at least 1.5 billion additional public investments for the renovation of 156 Health Centers, 86 Hospitals. All this is being implemented as we speak, it is not yet visible.”
And, in the end, “we will be judged, we will do the accounting at the end of this four-year period as well. The prime minister has proven that he is an institutional political leader, who respects political time.” And he asks the citizens to judge him based on the commitments he gave in 2023 and the results in 2027, underlined the Minister of State, while pointing out that “until then, he wants to keep his head down, with an emphasis on the result, on productivity, correction where there is error, sincerity, honesty, moderation’.
According to the Minister of State, housing is “one of the biggest social issues”. A question to which the government responds with the “My Home” program, prepared by the minister with Kostis Hatzidakis in the first phase, Akis Skertsos with Sofia Zaharakis afterwards. It is a “very successful policy, within a year all the loans have been absorbed. Today as we speak, 7,500 of our fellow citizens have signed the loan, disbursed it, and acquired their own home. We are now negotiating with European institutions to double or even triple this program,” he revealed. This, of course, is one of the ways to deal with the problem, as, beyond that, there are the benefits, but also the interventions in short-term renting.
Regarding the price problem, he insisted that “accuracy is not a Greek phenomenon, there is no “Mitsotakis accuracy”, it was caused by the energy crisis and the war in Ukraine”. After all, following the course of inflation over the last 2-3 years, “we see that in Europe it has increased by 16.5%, in Greece by 14%.” In food inflation, prices have increased by 25%, but they have also increased at a similar level in the rest of Europe.”
At the same time, there are continuous checks on the market where there are distortions, abusive behaviours, where there is a lack of competition, fines fall – “over 20 million, which are collected” – but also a series of interventions towards supermarkets. “It is not a fantastic figure to be precise, there is precision, a problem in incomes, the increases are being eaten away not in full, a part of them is being eaten away by inflation,” he said and even added:
The problem lies in the fact that “in Greece the purchasing power of citizens is indeed lower than in the rest of Europe”. But, “it is not at the levels that the opposition says”. While at the same time “unfortunately there is an extensive underground economy and tax evasion in Greece”, which, however, with the appropriate actions, is being reduced, he added.
At the same time, the Minister of State laid out the main government policy, which is “permanent increases in wages and pensions due to the better performance of the economy. We have a 28.5% increase in the minimum wage over five years, a 24% increase in the average wage over five years, over 10% increases in pensions. These do not fall from money trees, they come from the healthy growth of the economy on more stable bases.”
He asked himself, “has there ever been a center-left or left-wing government in the past that has imposed an extraordinary levy and tax on refineries and energy companies?” I see only the Mitsotakis government having done it.” He objected, in fact, that the extraordinary contributions were imposed “long before the pressure of the opposition, for two years”.
In addition, “the Mitsotakis government is called upon to make a double bet with the rest of Europe. This cannot be done either with money trees, or with sound proposals which, however, create a problem for public revenues”. Referring, in particular, to the opposition’s proposal to reduce the VAT, he pointed out that in Spain the independent statistical agency announced that “the VAT reduction has not worked. “So, you throw public money into the pocket of businesses without it reaching the consumer and prices do not improve”.
According to A. Schertsos, “we must achieve a healthy growth of the economy on a stable basis, not to repeat the mistakes of the past, not to return to surveillance again. At the moment eight European countries, including France, Italy, big countries, are under European surveillance. This means that taxes are coming in because they have not achieved the surpluses that we have achieved”. In conclusion, a golden balance must be kept, with economic growth on a healthy basis, but also healthy public finances.
In the area of security, the minister quoted comparative figures of 2019 and 2024. The figures coming from the Ministry of Citizen Protection and the Hellenic Police show a large increase in arrests, also an increase in arrests for domestic violence. At the same time, however, controls by the OPKE and Dias groups have increased.
The interview ended with a comment from him, on the occasion of the government’s announcements about schools. “The mobile phone in the bag”, was the motto of Akis Skertsou, with the simultaneous remark, “children must be protected and rules should be introduced in our schools and homes”.
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