Speaking for the 7th time as Prime Minister at the 89th Thessaloniki International Fair, Kyriakos Mitsotakis was at pains to show that his party had not lost its impetus, and laid out a programme of far-reaching, sometimes radical reforms for implementation up to the next national elections in 2027 and beyond.

Tax reductions for specific sectors of society figured largely in his narrative, aimed at solving the demographic problem which threatens Greece even more than other European countries. He concluded his speech with an appeal to the opposition parties to abandon their attitude of permanent grievance and to support the government in a number of major reforms, which, as he said, go beyond party politics.

The following is a translation of the transcript of his speech, which can be found on the Prime Minister’s YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5jFI8dMg74. The subheadings and interpolations in square brackets are ours.

The Prime Minister’s speech
Your Reverence, Mr Speaker, Madam Regional Governor, Mr Mayor ladies and gentlemen colleagues in the Government and in Parliament:
“I will not make promises, nor will I give money which does not exist. I will never do that. I am here to speak to you about participatory development, about a reset of the national economy, which will lead to prosperity for all Greeks.”

I said that from the platform of the Thessaloniki International Fair in 2016, in my first appearance then, as leader of New Democracy, the day when we signed together the “Agreement of Truth”, which was destined to lead the country definitively out of the crisis.

Today I am speaking to you from the same platform for the 10th time. My political experience is now greater, as is the grey in my hair. What has not changed, however, is the commitment to what I consider the kernel and the essence of politics: that is to say, how to improve the life of all our citizens, with greater disposable income and better public services, how to keep our country safe, in the midst of unprecedented geopolitical economic, environmental and technological changes, how to give hope to a new generation which today is finding it difficult to believe that it will live a better life than that of its parents.

And how will we achieve all that? By remaining faithful to values that must not be diluted with the passage of time. By telling the truth. By putting ourselves in the place of those whom we are dedicated to serving. By courageously recognising our mistakes. By not sacrificing long-term gain for temporary popularity and by striving continually for the best, even when we feel that for each small step of progress we need to exert an enormous amount of effort.

These last 10 years we have built strong relationships of trust, enjoyed victories, but have also endured crises. We have seen the country progressing, but also being tested. In the face of all that, we have put Greece first, demonstrating that we care for all Greeks.

Progress from poverty to development
No one can doubt that Greece today has passed from poverty to development, from unemployment to employment and new investment, and from international marginalisation to credibility and recognition. Indeed, it is not by chance that the country of past memoranda now appears among those with the highest rates of GDP growth in Europe. With unemployment from 18% already down to 8%, creating 500,000 new jobs, the public debt having been reduced by 30 percentage points, while salaries are increasing and taxes are being reduced, with investments, exports, tourism breaking records and our production model changing..

At the same time, we know that many of our fellow citizens are finding it difficult to make ends meet. The cost of living has increased everywhere. We, however, have been carrying the crisis on our backs for the last 10 years and for that reason we need to run faster. For that reason our central, unnegotiable priority is the support of incomes as a bulwark against inflation.

In the meantime, however, the country has achieved financial stability, a foundation without which every announcement would be “an empty tunic” [a quote from the poem ‘Eleni’ by Giorgos Seferis] or even worse a recipe for the next bankruptcy. One fact says it all: on 1st September 2015, the all-powerful France was borrowing at an interest rate of 1.16 per cent, a weakened Greece at 9.18%. Yesterday, 10-year French bonds closed at 3.44, Greek at 3.33.

Just think what efforts are hidden behind this change. And think that today everyone is wondering whether there will be a government tomorrow in Paris or, even worse, if France will be knocking at the door of the International Monetary Fund. Because France, like quite a few other countries, has already been declared in a state of excessive debt. Which means that they are being called upon to take austerity measures, increasing taxes and reducing expenditure.

We, fortunately, are in the opposite camp. We have attained the capacity to reduce taxes and to increase social expenditure. And I consider that that constitutes the greatest achievement of a prudent financial policy which we are following with consistency.

I have said many times that it is only fair for a share of growth to be returned to the citizens. Thus, with some satisfaction I am now able to talk about social relief measures, precisely because we have the fiscal margin to do so. Not because we have increased taxes, as some some people have rushed to proclaim, but because our strong financial growth brings increased income. As has the rigorous fight against tax evasion which has significantly bolstered the public purse.

But something else as well: we are strengthening society, despite the fact that in the coming years we will have to spend a lot of money on National Defence. In 2026 alone the payments for our armament programme will reach €2.3 billion. Freedom, you see, does not only require virtue and boldness [“Areti kai tolmi” – the motto of the Armed Forces] It also requires funds.

If some people would like, instead of the Rafales and Belharras, to give away their value in subsidies, let them say it openly. I, however, do not bargain with the country’s security. Just as I do not bargain with our place in the heart of Europe, especially in a period where revisionism is raising its head. The rule of the strong is tending to prevail. In such circumstances diplomatic contortions are not permitted. Because if we equate the perpetrator with the victim, for example in Ukraine, what will we do when we are asked to recognise the invasion and occupation of Cyprus as a fait accompli?

Full speed ahead to 2027
Take note, this country was isolated once from the European family for financial reasons. As long as I am Prime Minister I will not allow something like that to happen a second time for geostrategic reasons. Ladies and gentlemen, this year’s Fair is one of special significance. It is essentially a landmark in the middle of our second term. One could say that it is the most difficult, the most demanding – but in one way the one which is most exciting. And I emphasise that because as we progress towards the next elections some people might assume that we would put some kind of a brake on our activity.

My decision, however, is that we go full speed ahead, so that in 2027 a new four-year term dawns for the country, for our party. Even more successful, with fewer mistakes, with more results. In any case the reforms relate to different years. For example, we will shortly describe the economic policy for 2026.

In all that we shall say, must be included the permanent measures – I emphasise, permanent measures – to the value of €1.5 billion, which were already announced a few months ago, after the vote on the Budget, most of those coming into force in November. I would recall that the additional fiscal capacity was achieved by the over-performance of the economy in 2024. However, this in its turn was the result of difficult reforms over the previous two years.

We are speaking, consequently, of a process which by its nature produces results in stages. I remember for example that in 2023, a few months after the our second electoral victory, from this platform I first announced in greater detail the fight against tax evasion through the connexion of POS terminals with cash registers. I would doubt if I heard even faint applause then.

Returning profits to the people
It was, however, these silent but bold changes which have given us the possibility of returning a month’s rent to tenants two months from now and every year. It was these changes which allow us from November to support those on low pensions with €250 annually. It was these changes which allow us, Messrs Heads of General Staff and of the Armed Forces, to upgrade the salary system of the Armed Forces, the Police, the Fire Service and Coast Guard. These increases for uniformed personnel will be significant and will actually begin from the October salary payments. Just as, Mr Foreign Minister, there will be significant upgrading finally to the salaries of our diplomats. While the public expenditure programme also will be increased by €500 million.

They are changes which demonstrate that every support measure must be funded without threatening fiscal stability. Following this rationale I will shortly announce a framework of social support which will, however, be fully costed. What does this mean? First and foremost it will be compatible with our European obligations and the Community rules. Fiscal stability is the foundation on which the whole structure of our policy is supported and there is no question of it being called into question by this government. It will also be founded, however, on the capacity of the reforms to allow scope for income support measures in the face of inflation.

It will, however, be consistent with my unchanging position, which I would say is in the DNA of our party, that the best way of returning a portion of growth to the citizens is not through subsidies, it is through tax reductions. And I want to remind you that over the past few years this government has reduced 72 tax charges, from the ENFIA to the tax on parental benefits, to the introductory tax rate, the business tax rate, the tax on dividends, the abolition of the solidarity contribution. I refer by way of example to only a few of the taxes which we have reduced or abolished.

And why this? Because we believe in economic freedom. And it is a freedom which is best served when the weight of taxation is moderate and justly distributed. On the other hand, as you know well, as chiefly businesses and SMEs know, we don’t hesitate to resort to generous subsidies. When have we done that ? When urgent circumstances have made it necessary.

Radical reforms to income tax
In this way we have kept society and the economy on their feet during the difficult years of COVID, the difficult periods of the great energy crisis. However, now has come the time to support those who until now have not benefited as others have. And we will do it with the boldest reform of income tax in history of the post-Junta period. This alone is an intervention amounting to €1.6 billion euros.

It is a plan which could have many titles: “the hour of the middle class”, “the hour of the family”, “the hour of the younger generation”. It will bring relief simultaneously to more than four million taxpayers. What does this mean? An automatic and permanent increase in income every month for many wage earners, business people, farmers, pensioners, especially however families and young people. Keep the young people in mind, as a special category to which I want to refer later.

I know very well how Greek households are under pressure from inflation. I know how difficult it is today to raise two or three children with an income of €15,000, €20,000 or €30,000. We know very well how serious the demographic threat is now, not only in Greece but in all of Europe. This is why in the coming year we are reducing the basic tax rates – not including the introductory rate, which is already at 9% – by 2 percentage points. But we are not stopping there. These will be reduced further according to the number of children in each household so that we can finally give practical support to the Greek family.

Let’s see what this means in practice. Let’s take the scale for a worker with a salary of €10,000 to €20,000. From 22% which it is today, the basic rate will become 18% if there is one child, will reduce to 16% if there are two children, will reduce to 9% for three children families … and will be reduced to zero for families with four children.

In other words, a worker on €20,000 a year with two children will have an annual benefit of €600, with three children they will save €1,300, and with four children their benefit will be €1,680. If they have an annual income of €30,000 and no children, their benefit will be €400, with one child the benefit will be €800, with two it will be €1,200, with three €2,100, with four €4,100. If both members of a household are working, these figures are multiplied by two. It is a scale which for many of our fellow citizens will amount to from half to one monthly salary payment per year. While with the same adjustments, two workers with many children will have a benefit equivalent to two additional monthly salary payments for each parent.

At the same time we are also turning our attention to those in the category of the middle class who have incomes between €40,000 and €60,000. They are the most dynamic levels. This category generally also includes young Greeks who are returning home after working abroad. For those fellow citizens, therefore, we are establishing an intermediate scale of 39% instead of 44%. Because, if we want to encourage productiveness and innovation, we need to make changes which establish us as a country which is competitive at these income levels.

Reducing income tax for young people
However, symbolically and essentially, our most important intervention concerns the young, especially those who choose to join the labour market early. Take for example a young person who finishes studying at a public Vocational Training Institute and starts to work between 20 and 22 years of age. Together with the Finance Committee I have wondered a great deal how we can help these young people as they set out. And I know their struggles: what it means to start work, to try to find a house, to set your life up, to build your dreams. Here, therefore, we are applying something completely radical: from now on no worker up to 25 years old with an income of up to €20,000 will pay any tax. I repeat: zero income tax up for young people up to 25 years.

But we are not stopping there. Let us think of those who are a little older. Let us think of those who are in the category of 25 to 30 years old. They may have started work, taken their first professional steps. We have something good for them too. For a further five years, from 25 to 30, they will be taxed at the basic rate reduced to 9% instead of 22% Something which for most means a reduction of tax by over 50%. I believe that it is really a decision without precedent in our country. It is a generous cut for the benefit of the new generation. The Finance Committee will present the the details on Monday, together with all our interventions.

Let’s see what this means in practice for a young person with a few examples. Let’s take a 24-year-old with a yearly income of €15,000. They will benefit by €1,283 a year. That is to say more than one monthly salary payment. If their income is €20,000, the benefit will be €2,480. That is to say almost two monthly salaries. For a 27-year-old professional woman with the same income, the benefit will be €1,300, equivalent to one extra monthly wage.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is how the slogans of those who only know how to shout them are silently put into practice, by those who know how to act and to plan. Of course both I and the Finance Committee studied such simplistic ideas as, for example, the 13th salary payment for public sector workers. However, we decided that our own proposal is more sound. Why? In the first place it is fairer as it affects many more than one category of workers. In addition public sector workers are also benefiting substantially from the tax relief measures which I have just announced. While this proposal, as far as is within our power, meets the major challenges of our time.

On the other hand we are giving effective support to the Greek economy. Not only because this is the right thing to do, but because in this way we are adding a powerful weapon to to our arsenal in the fight against the problems of demographic decline. While, I would repeat, we are also sending a message to the young people who are listening to us today, who are always wondering: will they live a better life than their parents? Is the state, the government really listening to their own concerns and anxieties?

We are sending them a message: that we are with you as much as we can be at the start of your professional career. We want you to enter early and easily into the world of work and to develop into citizens with fiscal awareness. And that especially affects the children of Technical Education, which we have supported, and from which they generally come into the labour market much earlier.

Reforms to property rentals
However, our interventions in taxation do not stop here. We are intervening in the property market, to correct a distortion which relates to the separate taxation of rentals. How will we do that? We are establishing a lower rate of 25% for rental incomes between €12,000 and €24,000.

Let me explain in simple words why this is important: up to now the lowest rate for rentals has been 15% up to €12,000. After that, however, note that this scale rose from 15 to 35% for all rentals above €12,000. This change, which gives substantial benefit to small property owners, affects around 150,000 owners with incomes above €12,000 and below €24,000 annually.

At the same time, this reform also relates to fiscal compliance. And here I want to be quite clear: good accounts make good friends. I do not believe that there is a single person in this room who believes that the real average rental is €255 a month. That, however, is the amount which is declared annually to the Tax Office today. Consequently, since taxation is being reduced with the intermediate scale, and the return of one month’s rental every November is now permanent, I believe that renters but also owners now have a definite incentive to declare the real rental value. When and not if, because I’m sure that this will happen, when this happens I am open to looking at further reductions in taxation on property.

And all this is connected with policies of accommodation support which are already in force: the prohibition for example, extended to 2026, on new short-term rentals in the centre of Athens. The three-year exemption from tax when an unoccupied house is rented. The programmes “Spiti Mou II” (My House II), “Anakainizo – Enoikiazo” (I renovate – I rent), while the law on Social Assistance is being voted on in Parliament. [The latter is an agreement whereby a private contractor is allowed to build housing on vacant government property, on the condition that they will make 30% of the units available to the government to be let at low rents to young families and vulnerable households.)

But we are also introducing an innovative form of exploitation of government property in collaboration with the Minister and the Ministry of National Defence. We have agreed that at three important barracks – at Moschato, here at the Ziaka barracks, at the Manousogiannaki barracks in Patras, 2,000 apartments will be built on the initiative of the Armed Forces, 25% of which will house Armed Forces personnel, and 75% will be given over our fellow citizens who do not have a first residence. And this is something which will be continued, giving many idle public properties over to the community.

Support for the Regions and islands
To the above, allow me to add four, I would say more personal decisions of mine based on what I hear and see on my visits throughout the country. The first relates to the Greek Regions and those who keep them alive today. I think that we are all distressed by the picture of villages which are being deserted, areas which are gradually losing their productive capacity, when we have a duty to keep these areas, especially our villages, more fully alive. From 2026 the ENFIA will be reduced to half, and in 2027 abolished entirely, on first residences in villages below 1,500 inhabitants. Zero ENFIA in two years from now for anyone who has their first residence in any Greek village anywhere in the Greek State.

I believe it is an important incentive for parents and children to remain in their localities, but also for us to support this new trend which we now see emerging, also with support from the local communities: fellow citizens who leave the cities and choose to go and live in a Greek village.

At the same time, having travelled a lot and having visited many islands many times, especially the islands of the Eastern Aegean, I know very well the difficulties, what it means to live on a frontier island. The support of island life, besides, is a provision of the Constitution. I think that we owe something to our islanders who every day raise the Greek flag in the farthest reaches of the Aegean. For that reason my second decision is to reduce VAT by 30% on remote islands with fewer than 20,000 inhabitants…. I think the MPs for the Dodecanese and the North Aegean made their presence very much felt in that last round of applause.

We are testing the limits of European law here. I must stress it relates only to islands. Today there is reduced VAT on five islands, chiefly those which had the burden of hosting immigrants. But from now on the measure is essentially being extended to dozens of others which belong to the Regions of North Aegean, the Dodecanese, the Evro, from Limnos to Karpathos and from Samothraki to Kastellorizon, with the of aim boosting those areas both financially and in terms of accommodation and population.

Encouraging investments
The third initiative, a little more specialised but very important, is the doubling of discounts on investment expenses incurred in the Greek market in the areas of defence and vehicle manufacture. The assistance in question can apply to investments up to €150 million. The aim of this is self-evident: we need to encourage big investments in defence and the defence industry. And this in the light of European trends for reinforcing the joint security of the member states.

Finally our fourth initiative concerns small and medium enterprises. Only three days ago we approved the National Strategy on Outwardness for increasing exports, where we have made progress, but we have to move faster. The Ministry of Development’s bill for the further simplification of issuing permits is ready, always with investments in the field of industry as its main targets. Shortly – and here I am pressing ministers because we have somewhat exhausted our time limits – the Special Planning Frameworks will end both for industry and tourism and for fish farming, which is a vital area for the primary sector.

At the same time, progress is being made on the €200 million initiative for reinforcing outwardness, while the Development Bank, which has performed a very important support role for SMEs through TEPICH III [the Entrepreneurship Fund], is providing another €780 million for loans to SMEs on favourable terms.

Add to this the Agricultural Entrepreneurship Fund, which will cover the needs of the primary sector and will be operational in 2026, but also something particular, Mr Minister, relating to the Health sector: €50 million which will be made available especially for the Drug Innovation Fund.

Also, money is beginning to flow from two new important European funds, the Community Climate Fund and the Modernisation Fund: €700 million for the energy upgrading of SMEs, €200 million for reduction of energy costs in industry – I’ll return later to the issue of energy – and a further €300 million as a start for gradual renovation of our coastal fleet with “green” ships, beginning with our ferries.

Pension changes
Dear guests, these measures are being complemented by two more important changes. I won’t hide from you the fact that wherever I go in Greece, pensioners seek me out who recognise the fact that while we have started to give increases and reduced taxes, many of them, 671,000 to be exact, are not benefiting because of the personal difference. [A calculation designed to balance the difference between two methods of calculating pension entitlement, following pension reforms introduced in 2016, which in practice left some pensioners at a disadvantage.]

Well, in 2026 the personal difference will be reduced to a half, and in 2027 it will be abolished altogether. Goodbye personal difference. And this is a further help to pensioners who, I say again, will also benefit substantially from the reductions in income tax.

Also we are finally reducing by an average of about 30% the lifestyle assumptions for dwellings and vehicles for 500,000 taxpayers. While the professional criteria for the self-employed are now being broadened in settlements of up to 1,500 inhabitants.

Effects of the changes
This plan which I have presented to you has an effect in many fields. First of all it has a social aspect, it increases the income of citizens as a whole as a bulwark against inflation. I repeat: I know very well that inflation is the biggest problem which Greek households are facing today. It is at the heart of the fiscal adjustments which we are announcing today.

The plan, however, also has a strong demographic flavour. Essentially it shows concern for the Greek family, recognising that the cost for a household which does not have children is not the same as the cost of raising two or three children. As you will have realised it has a strong youth aspect. It relieves young people of a number of tax burdens. And it has a developmental aspect since it supports the most productive forces of the community.

The new reforms, however, also have a national character, boosting all the components of our homeland’s defence. They consist therefore of parallel initiatives, which run in two different threads: social justice and national responsibility, in a common course for the requirements of our country. Taxes are being reduced drastically. Pensioners are being relieved of the personal difference. The abolition of ENFIA offers new life to our villages. The reduced VAT gives a new interest to our far-flung islands. The measures for rentals are responding to the present and the priority given to children is directed at the future.

To put it differently, what we are inaugurating is a complex narrative. As you will have realised it is a comprehensive plan of reform. It is not just a catalogue of interventions in different fields. It is a cohesive programme. A programme, however, with clear political priorities, which is moving forward via actions which complement each other.

The pathogens inherited from the past
For that reason it will be difficult. Because while our aims may look towards the 3rd decade of the 21st century, the government continues to be besieged by decades-old pathogens. As was shown unfortunately in the case of OPEKEPE. Pathogens which unfortunately have not been uprooted even by our own government. To which, however, we are responding with actions.

I have said that the Organism will be revitalised. It has already been placed under the control of the independent AADE. I have said that whatever subsidies have been gained by deceit will be returned to where they belong. And already €22 million are being recovered from some 1,000 suspect cases, and investigations are continuing.

Again, from this platform two years ago I spoke of an agenda of “legality everywhere”, which we are implementing whatever resistance we meet: from transgressive behaviours on the road, where so many lives are being lost to no purpose, to corrupt planning departments, and from illegal prescription-writing to the gangs of the underworld, of football, of the smuggling of fuel, cigarettes, guns, narcotics. Something which shows that when there is the will the State can face up to anyone, however powerful they may be.

That, in any case, is our big difference. Don’t let’s deny it: lawlessness has existed, does exist and will exist in our country as it does everywhere. But what is changing today? That it is coming boldly to the surface. Why? Because it is being hit decisively by the State. A difference which is crystallised in successive – I stress successive – tangible successes of the prosecuting authorities, spearheaded by the Unit for Countering Organised Crime, the Greek “FBI”. It is an opportunity to for us to thank them, but also to applaud them for their persistent and systematic approach.

For the weaknesses which we still have, I will say it again: this government and I personally know how to acknowledge our mistakes; above all, however, we have the will to find the reasons for those mistakes and to also find the strength to overcome them. We have had enough of the dead weight of yesterday, and all those who want to preserve it today.

And I’m speaking forcefully, because it is not the first and it will not be the last battle which we wage with the past. Sometimes we meet resistance, yes. Sometimes we lose to the “deep state”, but frequently we conquer it together with its sponsors.

Current achievements
I’m speaking of triumphs such as [the government web portal] www.gov.gr, which has banished queues, frustrations, bureaucracy but also corruption. I’m speaking of the speeding up of engagements by ASEP [the Supreme Council for Civil Personnel Selection, an independent body which oversees all public-sector recruitment]. I am speaking of the digital labour card, which has tackled abuse in the labour market. Among such victories is modern EFKA with its fast issuing of pensions. When pensions are issued in two or three months there is no reason for any political intervention to speed up the process of pension issue.

I am speaking of the new disciplinary law in the public sector, which has just been approved in Parliament and provides for penalties up to dismissal for negative assessments. I am speaking of the electronic prescription system and the investigations we have carried out to identify the few devious doctors who write prescriptions as if there was no tomorrow. I am speaking of the electronic appointments for free examinations, but I’m also speaking of the assessment of the National Health system itself by its users.

The catalogue of changes aimed at transforming the “deep state” is long. It includes the Civil Protection 112 phone number, digital transactions, assessments in the public sector which have faltered over so many obstacles but are going forward. And it includes one more big emblematic reform, identifying I would say for our party: the private universities, which nobody believed that they would see one day in Greece. In spite, then, of the delays the first four will open their doors to Greek and foreign students this October, and indeed two of these right here in this city.

Just as in Thessaloniki nobody believed it when speaking last year from this platform I said that the Thessaloniki Metro would start in two months, and some Thessalonians dutifully applauded but you did not believe it. Now, however, the pride of the city, of Greece, is already journeying to Kalamaria, with five new stops which will be open at the latest by March 2026.

The new Paediatric Hospital at Filyro, the most beautiful, most up-to-date paediatric hospital in the whole of Europe, will be an adornment for Thessaloniki. It will be inaugurated in January 2027 and will be fully staffed from its first day of operation. The flyover, I know, has caused you a lot of inconvenience, but you can see how work is progressing and it will be ready within the first six months of 2027. There are many indications of progress, especially here in Thessaloniki, but I know that there are just as many problems remaining, in a battle with time, but also with our own shortcomings, which often become our fiercest adversary.

Critical reforms will require cross-party agreement
The years 2026 and 2027 will be critical milestones. Our destination however is 2030, with reforms which will definitively change the country’s image. For this reason the reforms extend beyond government circles and in their own way require broader agreements. I want to talk briefly about four of these challenges: they are the establishment of the National Graduation Certificate, the completion of the new National Health System, also the up-to-date Planning Departments and the full Land Registry, and of course the National Energy Map for the next decades.

As regards the first of these I do not think anyone will object to it. Certainly those who have children who are preparing for the panhellenic exams know that the Lykeio, especially in its last two grades, is entirely inadequate as a preparation for University, with the result that the preparation of candidates takes place chiefly in frontistiria. It needs to acquire its own educational prestige, its own weight in the work prospects of school leavers.

At the same time secondary education needs to accept new lessons, finally providing a full cycle of knowledge before the professional or academic continuation of every young person. New lessons which will include artificial intelligence in all its applications. Thus after a series of reliable tests during the course of their schooling, through the exams which will be given at the end of each grade, children will be able to be admitted to university with the key qualification of the National Graduation Certificate.

Note that we are talking of a tremendous change, which will have to be examined jointly with the parties and will have to be applied after a four-year period. To put it simply: the first level to benefit from and be incorporated into the system of the National Graduation Certificate is the children who have just finished the second Gymnasium and will be joining the third with the prospect of entering the first Lykeio in the following year, in a new operational framework of the Lykeio.

Health is the second field which requires some kind of common agreement. Today, with money from the Recovery Fund, A&E departments are being modernised in 93 hospitals and 163 health centres are being completely renovated. I see it everywhere I go in the country. I see the happiness of our fellow citizens, how from health centres which were degraded, in many cases in a state of collapse, suddenly they have access to modern Primary Health Care infrastructure.

The “bracelet” used to track A&E patients through hospitals was unpopular, but it reduced waiting times. Afternoon operations reduced the waiting lists for operations. The “MyHealth” app has come into our lives. You can go into it and fix an appointment with any doctor you please in a matter of days. The free preventive tests – a revolution in how we perceive public health – are spreading. Chronic patients are now receiving their medicines at home.

We also have more beds for emergency treatment. We have more doctors and nurses. Not as many as we would like, but many more by comparison with 2019. And this is something which the patients themselves acknowledge. I invite you to have a look at the data of the assessments from the users of the National Health Service themselves, because now anyone who is treated in a Greek hospital receives a message the moment they leave, where we ask them for 10 minutes of their time to tell us their opinion: what we did right, what we didn’t do right, how we can improve things.

This effort, this development, I believe, deserves to be continued – and the National Health System belongs to all Greeks both men and women. It does not have, I would say, a party political character – with understanding and a disposition towards positive suggestions from all. It is very unjust, you know, for some to react to the hiring of healthcare staff, chiefly on the inauguration of new clinics and of A&E departments, with disparaging comments.

I will say it again: the National Health Service belongs to all Greeks, both men and women. It will improve even more quickly when the political forces at least agree on some solutions which are self-evident. Until then, however, the government will refuse to turn the health of Greeks into an arena for party political disputes or allow our hospitals to be held hostage by demonstrators. And I personally prefer to hear the voice of the patients themselves, of the many doctors, nurses who serve the public health system, rather than the the megaphones of labour leaders and some irresponsible unionists.

The third major reform is that which will allow anyone to know where to build, what and under what conditions, on the basis of the Digital Land Registry that the State is acquiring for the first time. On the basis of a zoning plan for each area, which will avoid illegal and anarchic building. And of course with the support of planning departments which, instead of being centres of compliance or even corruption, will fulfil their true mission.

For this reason we have taken the drastic decision of removing the planning departments, as regards the function of issuing and inspecting building permits, away from the Municipalities and incorporating them into the Land Registry organisation Ktimatologio AE.

Please note that this is a vital issue for the future of the country. The organisation of land areas is perhaps the biggest ‘silent’ reform which the government has scheduled. It is, however, necessary for us to put into practice the sustainable development which is permitted by building under conditions of respect for our unique natural and cultural environment. It is a vital developmental factor, as it stimulates building, tourism and foreign investment. In other words it is yet another reform with long-term effects, which also requires dialogue and agreement.

Finally, a national challenge which also extends far beyond the horizon of this government is energy self-sufficiency and the future energy map of the country. What does this mean? First and foremost stable, affordable prices for electrical power. And this, despite all those who maintain the contrary, goes hand in hand with the further development of renewable sources, a sector in which Greece is already a leader, for the first time exporting energy from its sun and wind

Here I want to be clear: this policy of ours is producing results. Remember that last year we had big differences between the wholesale prices in South East Europe and Greece and those in the rest of Europe. For the first time we saw that with the dynamic entrance of renewable energy sources, wholesale prices were being reduced, and we are conforming more and more with the heart of Europe. However, to be clear: these lower wholesale prices must be passed on to the consumers. If this does not happen, we will not hesitate to intervene, as we have done many times.

Note that we are talking of a tremendous change, which will have to be examined jointly with the parties and will have to be applied after a four-year period. It is not possible for the representatives of political forces not to agree on central issues which not only affect society but I would say are required by circumstances. Nor – as it seems to me – can political disagreement in the 21st century be transformed into permanent party-political resentment. This “No to everything” essentially means “Yes to nothing”.

So despite the insistently negative stance of the opposition, I feel the obligation to invite it – as from now – into some kind of convergence of views. This will not abolish our differences, but it will signal some rudimentary common disposition for the good of the country.

The need for dialogue
The first proposal concerns our cooperation for the future of education and the National Graduation Certificate. I gave earlier a sample of the Government’s proposals and under the leadership of the Ministry of Education we will immediately start a national dialogue, and we will await proposals from the other parties which in principle have made positive statements about this reform.

Indeed I remember … PASOK supporting private non-profit-making universities, until Giorgos Papandreou in 2008 changed his position under pressure from his party. I hope that this time, at least for the National Graduation Certificate, there can be some kind of agreement. We must be able to somehow to find a meeting point in the area of reason, realism and result. I personally could easily retreat behind a hard political confrontation. However I think that it is a political duty of our own party, Mr Speaker. We are the biggest parliamentary force and we must make this first good movement towards agreement. Pavlos Bakogiannis [late husband of Chania MP Dora Bakogianni, assassinated by the Revolutionary Organisation 17 November in October 1989] said that if bridges are demolished in politics, then no-one can find a way back.

We are in the 7th year of our government, but I can assure you that the reach of our ambitions remains high. Personally I cannot compromise with the argument that supposedly we are good because the others are worse. … Yet the dilemma “Nea Dimokratia or chaos” does not express me, and I don’t think that it expresses you. On the contrary, I will demand that our country changes every day, knowing that we too are changing with it. Knowing that it’s always preferable to have a government which makes mistakes than the wrong government. So yes, we know well, especially in the Cabinet, that we are called upon to make a leap forward ahead of any damage which may follow.

I think that the citizens recognise the progress which has been accomplished. However, they have more demands from us, specifically as regards boosting disposable incomes to counter inflation. This was the main object of the measures which I have just announced. But as you know the application of policies is not the only field in which we are judged. The citizens may forgive us for mistakes but assuredly they will not tolerate arrogance. I will say it again: many of our fellow citizens have difficulty making ends meet. I don’t think that they ask us to solve or expect us to solve all the problems at once. They have a requirement however, which is to see us trying and, to use a basketball analogy, “working up a sweat”.

And they have, I believe, the requirement that we don’t ride the high horse of power. “Greet pedestrians when you are riding, so they will greet you in your turn when you dismount,” we say in Crete. Everyone should make sure to remember this mantinada. In this effort, however, I don’t feel that I am alone in my conviction. I have on my side the history, the principles, the spirit of our party. Principles which have accompanied us from the first day of its foundation by the National Leader Konstantinos Karamanlis.

I am sure that that is felt today by every member of Nea Dimokratia, be they man or woman, who have formed the backbone of the party for more than half a century. You constitute our strongest critics in your own way, but also our most faithful companions. But I also believe that the same principles are shared by many other citizens who do not necessarily belong to our party. Together with them we reacted to the adventure of SYRIZA with ANEL [the coalition government under Alexis Tsipras which was in power from 2015 to 2019] . Later we again plotted together the course of national recovery.

That is the broad front of Greek men and women who believe in Europe, believe in modernisation, believe in democracy. They do not forget from how far back we started. They ask us, however, to move faster. While at the same time they perceive the dark international environment, worrying about the next day.

And they are right to worry. Because a climate of upheavals is forming around us which seems to have difficulty in finding its balance: with wars, geostrategic shifts which produce threatening uncertainty in our neighbourhood, with the challenge of tariffs now shaking up all economies, with the climate crisis producing more and more frequent catastrophes, with artificial intelligence altering everything – I repeat everything – bringing unprecedented opportunities but also tremendous challenges.

In such a complex reality, I believe it is natural that populism should experience a resurgence, offering easy solutions to difficult problems, flattering the ears with fraudulent promises, suppressing thought with fake news which often represents a false reality.

Thus governments are not only besieged by international problems, they are also besieged by the canker of internal instability. That is why political stability is becoming a prerequisite for prosperity. It is an invisible advantage, which fortunately our own country possesses. A wager which was won with difficulty, great difficulty, to be established provisionally and called into doubt at the first opportunity. It is for exactly this reason that I often ask for party disagreements to lower their tone. Fewer slogans, more serious undertakings. I have said it more than once: we are numerous enough to proceed forwards, but we are not enough to be divided.

But let us remember where we were exactly 10 years ago, let us not forget this. And consider how stability, security, deterrent defensive capacity, our country’s international standing, those things which our homeland possesses today, are objects for many other communities, all the more so when they are connected with dynamic economic progress.

We have gained all those things. We obtained them by our efforts. We obtained them with sacrifices. It is not right for us to undervalue them so simply and so frivolously. Documented criticism is one thing, and constant complaints without action another. Today more than ever, a more cool-headed view of the dilemmas of present-day Greece is required, on the basis of a double criterion: on the one side our position in global developments and on the other a past which should keep us away from experimentation.

Let’s be serious: if we judge by the attitudes of other parties, the present political scenario is having difficulty in serving the needs of the times. And this is my reply to the contrived argument about the so-called inadequacy of a reliable pole on the other side. No one is preventing them from formulating, if they have them, proposals which are more convincing, more practical, more effective than those of Nea Dimokratia. It sounds ironic for the government to come under fire even for the inadequacy of its opponents. What can I say? Let us at least be judged only by our own policies, not by the policies of others.

Ladies and gentlemen I will end with the following observation: all over Greece I meet industrious people with dreams and ambitions. I meet students who work during the summer season so as to cover their needs during the winter. Young business people who are doing their best to set up their businesses. National Health Service doctors who honour their Hippocratic Oath, often under difficult conditions. Coast Guard officers who guard our frontiers with self sacrifice. Farmers who are risking new crops. Employees who are heads of family with a dream for a better tomorrow for their children. Pensioners who have chosen to work, not only because they need an additional income but because that way they feel useful and productive.

That is only a few some of the faces of a Greece which wants to move forward, independently of whether some are unable to follow them. A Greece which gets up to work early, while it observes and understands, compares and judges, weighs and decides. This Greece is called upon here and now to take into its hands the baton of the future. And it is precisely to this Greece that I am directing myself today.

In the meantime, however, the list of our aims will increase more and more. We must be in the frontline to transmute them into results. And for this reason I welcome this year’s Thessaloniki International Fair. It is 100 years, let’s not forget, since this Fair was created, in other times, with other challenges, but let us welcome it as the starting point for a creative journey towards the year 2030.

It will be a difficult journey, in a troubled world, where old challenges return in other forms, such as the immigrant problem, old threats come alive again with a new face, such as demagoguery. But the Greece of 2025 is now a country with self confidence. It is experienced enough not to allow turning back. It is mature enough to take on board the difficulties of each reform and transmute them into practice. But it is also ready to defend its conquests, opening with confidence the horizons which belong to us.

That is why I am sure that, having a united crew, the national ship will continue on the route of progress whatever waves it meets on the way. You referred to Eleftherios Venizelos, Mr Tzikas. [Tasos Tzikas, President of the Thessaloniki International Fair]. A century ago now he said “We have the most beautiful homeland in the world, we are a people capable of works of genius.”

These are optimistic words and words which I believe absolutely match this restart which our country needs in troubled times. With certainty, with consistency and boldness, on a journey which is starting again from Thessaloniki. From here, then, I invite you to join me in writing another beautiful page in our history. We have the will to, we can and we will do it, because we have put Greece first and above all we care for all Greeks, both women and men. Thank you.