“So we evaluate all the findings very seriously. If I could put a title on what we’re trying to do, it’s that we’re a quarter of the way through a four-year period where we’re called upon to implement a program. To produce positive news for the daily life of citizens in the many problems that exist and these indicators confirm something that we have discussed many times, that there is still much that needs to be solved…”, added the government representative.
Mr. Marinakis also mentioned that society is experiencing many and important problems and that the Government is also trying to solve many of them in the second four-year term.
“We will be judged at the end of the four years for the reliability of words and projects and of course for our efficiency and speed of resolution. We want to solve something every day, to improve the situation in something”, he continued while referring, among other things, to the Prime Minister’s announcement that the Thessaloniki Metro will be delivered on November 30.
Regarding income, he emphasized that we are not below Bulgaria and said that leveling off is dangerous. “One of the biggest problems that the Prime Minister was called to face when he took over the governance of the country, was that Greece was in the middle of nowhere in terms of disposable income. People felt that the money was not enough even for the basics, due to a more than ten-year crisis. Greece went from the eighteenth place among the 22 countries that have a minimum wage, to the 11th place within five years. It is not in the first, nor in the first five, but it is in the 11th, this is the minimum wage,” he noted. He added that in the average salary we have an increase of 20.2% and that in the consumption index Greece is at 79% of the European average with 7 countries below it. Mr. Marinakis underlined that our country is growing in terms of real GDP per capita from ’21 onwards, that is, it is reducing its gap with Europe.
At the same time, he mentioned that many taxes have been reduced and they continue to be reduced in the second four-year period and emphasized that we have more tax revenues without an increase in rates.
He also spoke about the reduction of unemployment, while in fact he pointed out that in recent months we have had a gradual de-escalation.
“The biggest problem for me, apart from supermarkets, is housing, housing for that, and one of the main priorities of the Prime Minister in his speech at the TIF will be the further support of citizens and, especially, young people, possibly a next “My Home” program”, he added.
To the criticism of the opposition that the government’s policy is leading health to collapse, he replied that “just as it is unreal to say that the world does not have a big problem with accuracy and they will say that you live in another universe, so it is deeply counterproductive and harmful to the public debate to put an impressive and disparaging title in front of you and not have any counter-proposal”.
Asked if we will see a reduction in indirect taxes, he replied that “we will see from this Government only reductions in tax rates, as its program says, with two conditions: One is that this “fund”, the public finances, can bear it, and the second is to know that this will lead to reductions that will reach the citizens.”
After a related question, Mr. Marinakis stated that “there is dissatisfaction because there are many problems, especially in health”. He mentioned that there are waits, that there is an issue of understaffing in some clinics with some specialties. “We have reduced the distance, but we are not where we were before the crisis in terms of salary. We know it, we have no illusions. But resources are not unlimited. We are gradually increasing their salaries, as much as the country’s Budget can bear. We give an incentive for them to do private work, which has a result – the Minister of Health said it yesterday”, he noted while responding to those who argue that the government is privatizing health.
“Let them say they believe. We have a democracy. However, if we manage to keep doctors in the NHS, yesterday Adonis Georgiadis, the Minister of Health, announced in Thessaloniki, a significant number, 30 doctors, who had declared that they would leave the NHS and changed their decision. Many more are needed. Many also came back, more than 50 – if I am not mistaken – while they were gone. This month only. If it is to keep people in the NHS, to give them the possibility, without jeopardizing their work in their clinic, to do private work and, at the same time, to private doctors – who also do something very difficult, keep a practice, they pay contributions, no one pays them anything – to do on-call duty, which, obviously, and we need to increase it even more, to strengthen the National Social Security System. If, in other words, it is to face a problem and break down stereotypes just because someone will come out with a banner opposite the Ministry of Health and opposite a hospital, a professional trade unionist – I say this in the minority, not all are trade unionists, so as not to I am misunderstood – that all he knows how to do is to put titles “you are privatizing the NHS”, “you are privatizing education”. We are interested in the good of the citizens and that is what we are doing”, he added.
Referring to the major projects and talking about BOAK, the government representative said that the Prime Minister did not say that it will be inaugurated in a few years as it is one of the most difficult projects and the work is progressing. “There are some points where there are issues of expropriation, which is something that the Government must solve, but it is a complex legal issue. And there was also a meeting, in the presence of the Regional Governor of Crete. A man who does not come from the area of New Democracy, but recognizes the effort that is being made and, of course, persistently asks for even more for the citizens of Crete. I’ll tell you something. There is a serious dimension that these projects should be completed as quickly as possible, but no one can dispute that projects are being delivered and we are now accountable. Can someone enter somewhere and see that in November we will have a metro in Thessaloniki”, he noted.
He also accused Stefanos Kasselakis of grave-digging and said that “if you look at it post-politically, we haven’t had such a position of a politician even from the extreme parties”.
Mr. Marinakis, after a related question, stated that the elections will be held in the Spring of 2027, while for the presidential election he emphasized that it is extremely premature for him and for the institution and for the person of Ms. Sakellaropoulou to discuss something at the end of August which is for 2025. “When that moment comes the Prime Minister will announce his decision,” he added.
Asked if the government is considering a change in the percentage of parties entering the Parliament from 3% to 5%, he replied that he is not aware of such an issue, while regarding the developments in SYRIZA he said that the lack of opposition is not the only advantage.
“For two reasons I don’t want to comment on SYRIZA. One is the obvious one. Institutionally, you cannot comment on what is happening in another party. It is another party, it has its own procedures, its members will make their decisions, the MPs have their own role. And the other reason was the one I described to you a while ago. I believe that it is something that is beginning to disturb our own world as well, a world that is close to us and is waiting to see what we will do and evaluate it strictly. The last thing people want from us, is to have the bar so low that these attitudes are, a party that is led where it is led and history will show where it will end up. What matters is the deliverable. It is important every day to talk about better buses, better schools, improvement in health, even a little drop in prices – hopefully more – and to be judged as a whole for the small things that add up together are big, but also for the big things,” he said.
Regarding the management of natural disasters this year, the government spokesman said that there is no doubt that this fire that escaped was extremely difficult and had significant consequences.
“We will immediately have rehabilitation, as soon as possible, of those affected. But let’s put the dimension a little, because the end of the anti-fire season is now beginning to be seen, we still have time. Four thousand fire outbreaks that, with the exception of one large fire that actually escaped, while we had an intervention in five minutes, were dealt with. They were treated not magically, not “oh! of the miracle’, but with a plan, better organization and prevention, 45 drones, more firefighters, 17,200, the most the country has ever had, from sixty to ninety aerial vehicles and a different culture of response. A coordinating center in political protection and under Mr. Kikilia and of all the rest, the natural leadership. There is no doubt that
what happened and progressed several kilometers in Attica worries us. But it’s a mistake to zero in,” he continued, pointing out that there are too many parameters to consider.
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#dissatisfaction #problems
