The 86th Thessaloniki International Fair, 10th September 2022

The Thessaloniki International Fair is a major commercial event which has been running in Greece’s second largest city since 1926. In 2020 it was cancelled due to the Covid pandemic, the first time it had not been held since the Second World War.

This year the 86^th Fair, which hosted 200,000 visitors, was dedicated to the memory of the Asia Minor Disaster, which took place 100 years ago. At the end of the Greco-Turkish War, the army of Kemal Atatürk entered the city on September 9, 1922 and in the immediate aftermath a fire broke out in the Greek and Armenian quarters of the city killing an estimated 10,000 to 100,000 people.

The disaster was followed by the population exchange between Greece and Turkey which was organised by the Nobel prize-winning humanitarian and scientist Fridtjof Nansen with the approval of the League of Nations. The exchange was based on religion rather than ethnicity and resulted in approximately 1,300,000 Orthodox Greeks of the Ottoman Empire relocating to Greece, and roughly 355,635 Muslims living in Greece going to Turkey. The Muslims of Western Thrace and the Greeks of Constantinople were exempt from the exchange.

The Thessaloniki International Fair is traditionally a showcase for government policy with the prime minister of the day reviewing progress and making a series of statements about the government’s programme for the coming year. This year, with a general election due by July 2023, Kyriakos Mitsotakis gave a speech enumerating the government’s successes as well as its failures over the past three years, and announcing an ambitious programme of social and economic support for the country in a time of crisis.

In a world where politics, like most aspects of life, is becoming increasingly polarised, the spectacle of successive governments seeking to systematically undo the achievements of their predecessors is becoming all too common. At the least it is a waste of resources. Apart from all else the speech is a plea for continuity.

The following is the text of the entire speech. The interpolations in square brackets are ours.

Ladies and gentlemen,

One hundred years ago, also in September, our national body lost a precious part of itself in Asia Minor, suffering an unspeakable tragedy.

However, at the same time, it gained the regenerative force of some two million refugees, who would build the Greece of the following decades. Their blood and suffering would become a fertiliser of progress and a creative determination. And thus our homeland would remain fixed in its historic course whereby disasters are transformed into triumphs. Today we stand in reverence, honouring all those who through this terrible ordeal laid the foundations of a stronger Greece.

A century later, everything is different in the world and in our country. Our homeland has moved forward. However, the dangers have only changed their name. And the difficulties their content.

For the national challenge has remained the same despite the passage of time: for the land to remain free, sovereign and independent, through the changing conditions. And for citizens to prosper. Breathing the air of a Democracy which protects them and affords them opportunities to create for themselves and for their families.

But the same resilience also highlights the double lesson of experience. That which says that the parents of defeat are always division and demagogy. While unity and truth lead only to victories.

That conclusion remains definitive at the present time since we are once again at a difficult crossroads.

After 12 years of bailouts and monitoring, Greece has now recovered its financial independence from European supervision. While it is a front-runner in development, exports, reduction in unemployment and social support.

All this within a context of fiscal responsibility, so that the younger generations should never again have to experience the humiliation of external Supervision.

Within the space of three years our people have endured with maturity an unprecedented global pandemic. The state meanwhile has resisted as one body the organised invasions of refugees on the Evro and in the Aegean. It has repelled the provocations of our neighbours in our territorial waters. It has withstood and learned from the assaults of nature. And yet at the same time it has laboured and prospered. It has made up for four lost years. And now it is planning for a promising decade ahead.

Never since the fall of the Junta has any government been called upon to confront so many crises in such a short space of time. But thanks, first of all, to you the citizens, we rose to the occasion. And our homeland today is much stronger than when the people entrusted to us the responsibility for this land.

Nevertheless, new clouds are forming on the national horizon. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is once more fanning the flames of war in the heart of Europe. And that means that we are at war. All of us and in everything: on the fronts of the global energy crisis and international price rises. In the battle for International Law and inviolable frontiers. In the effort to keep Europe united and dynamic and its nations free, democratic and secure.

In this complex conjunction of events, then, our homeland is once more called upon to make historic choices. Taking a position on the right side of events. And taking inspiration from the real message sent to us today by Smyrna.

For the true Greece is not that of division, mistakes and disaster. But the one which aspires to advance towards the future. To seek the reasons when it stumbles on the road. And when it temporarily falls, to find the strength to get up more determined than before.

Thus we welcome and honour the memory of the events in Asia Minor. With works and results, and not with the anger being emitted on the other side of the Aegean. With essential defensive measures and strong alliances, instead of with rhetorical blustering.

And chiefly, supporting the nation’s continuous upward path by measuring it against her historical trajectory. Where we started from and where we have reached. Which obstacles we overcame. The many things which have happened, and the more which have yet to come.

So let me be clear from the start. This is my fourth year as prime minister at the International Exhibition and I know that the coming months are pre-electoral. Therefore I will not conceal the fact that our major choices are clearer than ever.

Either we move forward, or we turn back. Either we build on the foundations of a Greece which is a leading player in Europe, with firm friends, or we leave our fate to the unknown and the country at the mercy of global competition.

In other words, either we give progress a second chance or for a second time we risk disaster.

It is my obligation to warn the citizens: nothing of what we have achieved is to be taken for granted. And with a single mistake everything could be demolished. However, that is how Democracy works. Referring this decision to the people, and them alone. And they have seen, have learned and know which course they will choose.

Ladies and gentlemen,

From this same place, in 2019, after the great victory of Nea Dimokratia, I put forward five central priorities for the progress of our homeland:

Lower taxes and greater development for all. More work, with protection for the weakest. Health and Education which will provide dignity and a future. And a digital and effective government at the side of the citizen.

And this in a nation which stands proud in Europe and the world, which will rebuff its enemies and will increase the number of its friends. I remember very well my first attendance at the Fair. Behind the smiles of hope which I saw, I also saw doubt amongst those who were listening to me. After all they had heard so many things from that platform. Only for them to be followed by u-turns, delusions, and fanciful predictions.

I remember the understandable suspicion in the eyes of many of you: “Can all that happen in Greece?” Well after three years I am here again in front of you, and I reply to you: yes, they did happen and they are happening.

No one, I believe, can doubt the changes which have come about in the country’s economic life. The citizens are now paying less income tax, with an introductory level of 9 per cent and with a higher untaxable allowance.

They are paying 35 per cent less property tax, and the tax on businesses has been reduced from 29 per cent to 22 per cent. Insurance contributions have been reduced by more than 4 per cent. Prepayments of tax have also fallen. While almost no-one is burdened when transferring property to their children.

Indeed, while being a leader in tax reduction, the country had the third strongest growth in the eurozone in 2021. This year GDP increased by 8.3 percent. In the first six months we surpassed all expectations and it increased 7.8 per cent. And the predictions of the financial officials are that growth in the current year will exceed 5 per cent.

Exports reached a total of 74 billion euros. And foreign investment was nearly 5 billion euros, the best performance in decades. Something which can be confirmed by our guests from the United Arab Emirates, which is the honoured country at this year’s TIF. Tourism has experienced the same upward trajectory. The income of households and businesses has increased by 46 billion euros in 40 months.

All these things justify both our choices and our slogan: We said it, and we did it!

This picture of a dynamic economy is supported by other data: the drastic decrease in non-performing loans, the hundreds of investments, both public, private, and public-private partnerships, which are moving forward at a national, regional and municipal level. [EU] funding of 20 billion euros which translates into a programme more than double that for the Olympic Games in 2004: from road networks connecting the whole nation to new airports, and the many water supply projects taking place in every Region.

Greece, as I had undertaken, is being transformed into a large construction site, completing unfinished projects from the past. As you know well here in Northern Greece, Mr Mayor.

Apart from the airport, which is finished, a project which again was launched by Nea Dimokratia, the Metro is on course to be delivered by the end of 2023. From a joke about Thessaloniki, it has become a reality. At the same time, planning is under way for its extension to the West. The new ring road, the regeneration of the beach area. The new Children’s Hospital and the cancer hospital for which a site has already been found. The Pavlos Melas barracks and the new logistics centre at the Gonos barracks. Our plans for the new TIF, as were ably presented by Mr Tzikas, the new pitches for the PAOK and Aris teams, the Holocaust Museum and many more.

More than 30 major works, totalling 9.3 billion euros, which are changing the face of the city and turning it into a leader, as it should be. All these are projects which have been scheduled and will be completed.

As regards the second priority, that of the welfare state, the numbers speak for themselves. Greece has already had the biggest reduction in unemployment in Europe. In the middle of the crisis it created 300,000 new jobs.

For the first time the number of those in employment has reached 4.2 million. In the first 6 months of 2022 alone, the balance between hirings and leavings was positive by 267,000 jobs. And positive in terms of quality, as many new hirings are for superior skills and at higher salaries. You know this very well here in Thessaloniki, which has managed to attract significant foreign investment, reversing the brain drain here in the city.

If the lack of work is the greatest form of injustice, however, there is also injustice for those in work. And here our answers have not been few.

The state committed 9.5 billion euros to save existing jobs during the 2 years of the pandemic. And it succeeded. It also increased the minimum salary by 63 euros per month and overtime for part-time workers by 12 per cent. These are measures which in conjunction with lower insurance contributions, and successive tax reductions, have brought relief to the incomes both of the low paid and the middle classes.

At the same time the whole production environment is gradually changing: thousands of workers are already checking their output and their overtime with the Digital Card. Couriers are working in a secure and regulated environment. Remote working is now looking to get the right of disconnection. Discrimination is a thing of the past. Maternity and paternity leave are being increased.

Also, we are finally tackling the abomination of outstanding pensions. I remember when we came to power, pensioners were coming to us in desperation, saying “Is it possible that it takes three or four years for me to get a pension?” It was shameful, it was shameful that veteran workers were having to wait years to get the fruit of their labours. That situation now belongs to the past. It was not just a financial issue, it was a question of dignity, of basic respect of the state towards the citizen, which is the foundation of trust in every organised society.

Ladies and gentlemen,

In this same hall I had spoken about a Health system which will protect the present. About an Education system which will build the future. And the fight against Covid was the beginning of the enterprise of developing the Health System. And now our attention is turning to primary care.

All parts of the National Health System acquired new units, new equipment, digital functioning. The Intensive Care Units more than doubled. Eighteen thousand permanent and temporary doctors were appointed.

In Education, the state established two years of preschool learning, with English from 4 years old. The New School acquired 166 up-to-date study programmes, with the abolition of the one single book. The school curricula, especially in our primary schools, were enriched with new subjects such as road safety, environmental awareness and sex education. Throughout Greece, the Model Experimental Schools doubled in number, while after 12 whole years, 24,700 permanent teaching staff were hired.

At the same time, professional education was overhauled. And the University is now linked to work and the needs of the economy.

However, in these two absolutely critical fronts of the welfare state, our efforts must be continuous. In Health, the challenge of a free Personal Doctor for All, the renewal of the Health Centres throughout the country, and nationwide preventive testing all remain open.

While Education in its turn needs to move faster in implementing the new tools which have been passed into law. For example the internal Erasmus programmes and the extremely successful pilot Vocational Training Institutes.

Our fourth priority which I had spoken about in 2019 was that of Digital Governance. I could show it to you easily with a click on the screen of your mobile phones. But I prefer to talk about it, as I believe that words better convey its real human character.

Who would have believed, three years ago that they would have their ID and driving licence on their phone and that they could use the latter to check their medical prescriptions and tests. Who would have believed that through gov.gr and its 1,500 services, 60 hours of bother could be saved. That is the benefit of the digital revolution for every Greek man and woman, as it links together the citizen, business and the state. Facilitating culture and daily lives.

This enlisting of technology for the citizens’ benefit is not simply a conventional drive for modernisation, it is a political choice in their interest. It was demonstrated, moreover, by the vaccination strategy, which was devised from the outset to be completely digital. It is continually evidenced by the wide use of technology at all levels.

For that which we call the “Welfare State” is not built only with bold measures, with the support of the weakest, with the assistance of 2,000 euros for every new mother or with personal help to people with disabilities. But with a comprehensive government system of support, which above all must be based on respect.

For this very reason, this digital transformation of Greece is accompanied by a transition to a tomorrow of Rights. With the upgrading of women both at work and in the community. With equal participation of all in everything.

For the first time – and I am very proud of this – our country has acquired a National Action Plan against discrimination. For Equality of the Sexes. For the disabled. The Roma. The LGBTQ+ community. As well as for children’s rights. All those who for decades were on the margins, today are getting a voice and representation.

I will end this short overview with the Proud Homeland which we promised. And we have it. A homeland which is now larger, as it has extended its territorial waters in the Ionian to 12 miles.

A homeland with more numerous and more powerful allies, since it has already signed dozens of agreements with countries from the West and from Africa to Asia and the Arab World. And amongst these, of course are strategic defence treaties, the most important of these being with the USA and France.

Our diplomatic shield is as ever accompanied by the lance of national deterrence. I remember that it was from this platform that I announced the purchase of Rafale fighter aircraft. The first of these are already flying in Greek skies. The first two of the three Belharra frigates are already under construction at Lorien in France, and they will be incorporated into our fleet from 2025.

And this is only a part of the overall plan of support for the Armed Forces. For Defence requires inviolable frontiers and secure territory. This effort is being helped by the 3,000 new frontier and coast guards. By the 32 new vessels and monitoring installations in the Aegean. And of course by the fence on the Evro.

Thanks to these measures and this policy, the immigrant flows towards Europe have been reduced by 80 per cent. Asylum seekers are now being housed in humanitarian conditions. Thousands of lives have been saved at sea. And around 1,000 illegal entries are being prevented every day.

As regards the crescendo of provocation from Turkey, I will say one thing: our response is our alertness. The strengthening of our Armed Forces. Our thriving economy. Our international alliances, but also our commitment to International Law. But chiefly, the unity of our people.

So let our neighbours cease their unhistorical pyrotechnics for internal consumption. They neither intimidate us nor deter us.

The threats being launched from the other side of the Aegean merit one word of response, which sums up the strength of our people: No, Mr Erdogan.

And to say it in a language which he may understand better: Greece says Yok to your bullying.

Ladies and gentlemen,

These five stages in the three-year course of our first four years in power in themselves constitute an assessment. They are not put forward, however, in order to boast. On the contrary, I would say that they constitute new points of departure. Not because they did not go very well. But because there are many bad things which remain.

Salaries in our country are still low. The market doesn’t always work to protect the most vulnerable workers. Many critical areas are still beleaguered by bureaucracy. And there are still the old rigidities in society.

A young person may find work more easily now under the “First Stamp” scheme [which subsidises companies who create new jobs], and the minimum wage may be better, but their job needs to become stable. Also, and chiefly, it needs to permit them to rent a home and to make plans for having a family.

Whereas an investment plan formerly took 650 days to obtain approval, now it is 100. And even that number is high, in relation to other countries where approval is obtained much more quickly.

In 21st century Greece, the speed of the administration of justice, despite the important institutional interventions which our government has made, has yet to become matched to the needs of society and the economy. And it takes an unreasonable time to reach final decisions.

And there are other traps from the past which lie in wait today: for instance at a time when the citizen is served electronically, it is unacceptable that there still a few employees who will make things difficult for them when they do have to appear at a service counter.

And while we are spending a lot of money on Health, that there are still complaints at our hospitals. While municipalities are given funding, that they often do not manage to carry out the projects. And that while we have a surplus of graduates, we lack trained professionals. And also unskilled workers. And it is a paradox that while our production is increasing, seasonal workers, for example, cannot be found to harvest the olives.

Believe me, I know better than anyone the steps which are being taken. But I know even better the strides which are still needed. It is not enough for our disabled fellow citizens to have untroubled access to their allowances. They should not have to go repeatedly to the Disability Certification Centres in order to get their own personal helper. We owe it to them that they should also have work. And they should be able to move unimpeded in the street.

In order for a young doctor not to go abroad, they must be able to find a good salary and the right working conditions at a hospital here. And for an employee to be productive they need to be rewarded by the employer.

For this reason I persist in seeing our duties as a constant struggle. For a government should be constantly confronting problems. Never, never should it capitulate to its failures.

As I have said myself, the innumerable mistakes of our opponents do not make ours any less serious. Mistakes, however, which we do not hesitate to admit to and which we strive to turn into lessons which will eventually lead to their being overcome.

There is no more characteristic example, perhaps, than that of Civil Protection. From an invisible service in 2019, it rapidly became incorporated into an independent Secretariat, to have a catalytic action in all the phases of the coronavirus pandemic, simultaneously to absorb the “112” emergency service, and to make planned interventions on the fronts of national disasters.

But there also, unfortunately, there remain some weaknesses. After this year’s fires I courageously accepted the political responsibility. And we upgraded Civil Protection into an independent ministry with full responsibility. And indeed there was progress. A snowfall once again revealed problems of coordination. This provoked new thoughts, new self-criticism and a new deployment of forces.

The result? Yes, we had losses, fortunately none of them human. Yes, we had complaints. But at the end of the year we managed to have 220,000 fewer stremmata burned than the average for the past 15 years.

With rapid response, with more aerial resources, which were there where they were needed, in a very short space of time. This year we did not hear the usual complaints of “Where are the aircraft?”, “Where are the helicopters?”. There was much better collaboration between the Fire Service, Police, Army and Forestry Services and volunteers. I thank each and every one of you individually. This will mean that you are able to become better and learn from your mistakes.

I could also make reference to similar progress on the Immigration issue. That is to say, how the flows were reduced when laxity and irresponsibility gave way to strictness and effectiveness.

How the disgraces of Moria and Idomeni quickly became humanitarian and hospitable sites. How we were forced, under the pressure of events, to change our views and to reconstitute the Ministry of Immigration Policy. And we were right to do so. And we have had results. Not only in the deterrence operations, but in speeding up the vetting of requests for asylum. In the Special Secretariat which we established to take care of the lives and the future of the most vulnerable people, of the thousands of underage refugees who, unfortunately, were often to be found in tragic conditions.

I would put in the same category the episode of the hacking of Mr Androulakis’s phone. An operational error for which the government immediately assumed strict political responsibility.

It established, with a legislative act, additional legal guarantees on monitoring by the National Intelligence Service, while it put forward specific proposals for changes in its operation. The issue is now in the hands of Justice and the responsibility with Parliament.

But we should take note that the operation of the National Intelligence Service was, is and will be still more valuable in the coming era. Its activity needs to be improved, not obstructed. To be corrected, not abolished.

That is something which I have a national responsibility not to allow. Just as we must not allow current events to be bogged down in soul-searching, rumours and scenarios. Especially when this is what many people outside Greece would wish for.

Dear friends,

I said at the beginning that the past three years were unprecedented. Because everything that we experienced was also unprecedented. There were no ready solutions: from the global onslaught of an unknown virus to the resurgence of war in Europe. And from unprecedented weather phenomena to the energy crisis and international price rises, from which we are still under siege. Nothing is as it was yesterday. And as has been said ironically “the future is not what we knew”.

These successive adventures have brought us down to earth, showing every problem in its true dimensions, highlighting the really big priorities.

While the manner of managing them has shown up who can confront the serious challenges and who remains stuck in the role of the protesting bystander.

The above conclusions, I believe, constitute important qualitative indicators, which will be very useful for the difficult coming winter.

Because the lowering clouds are many: the Russian invasion of Ukraine is aiming to create as a fait accompli the open violation of frontiers and International Law. And with it to legitimise an example of despotic aggression for every willing local agitator.

Our response, therefore, must be national.

At the same time the energy crisis is becoming a financial crisis, increasing the prices of natural gas and electricity to unprecedented levels. And as a consequence, the cost of all products.

Our response, therefore, must also be European.

But there is a third consequence: Moscow, using natural gas as a weapon, wants to transform inflation into a trigger for social unrest and the destabilisation of Western governments. To put it another way, for energy insecurity to be turned into European political instability.

I know that already society is consumed by fear at the prospect of an extended period with prices which eat away at disposable incomes. But we must not allow the perpetrator to blackmail his victims.

Nor must allow ourselves to be blinded by resentment, seeking internal responsibilities for external attacks. The bill for inflation must be returned to the person who provoked it, to Mr Putin. And our response must be mature and democratic.

Greece’s position is clear on all three fronts:

On the war in Ukraine we are with the defender. Because we are for Freedom, Democracy and International Law. And as I have said many times we have an additional reason to do so: because we know very well what it is to be threatened by one’s neighbours.

In the energy war we have already for the past 12 months been leading Europe in deploying one of the largest support programmes on our continent. But the solution, here, will not be sufficient unless it is European, unless it is Community-wide. I am glad to see that, albeit with some delay, Brussels appears to be moving in the direction of Greece’s proposals.

Because at the national level I can assure you that our interventions will be continuous. I would remind you that over a period of months we have been issuing 6.5 million domestic benefits, absorbing up to 94 per cent of the increases in the cost of electricity. Relief of almost 90 per cent is also being given to nearly 1.5 million small businesses. Ninety per cent of the increase on agricultural bills is also being subsidised. We said that we would neutralise the effects of the Price Adjustment Clause, and we are doing so.

We must be aware, however, that our defences need to include a plan for saving energy, and this is already being applied in the public sector. From October, it will be framed with both incentives and disincentives, so that citizens can participate more actively in the correct use of energy. The same provision will also apply to households which are heated by natural gas.

I will be frank, however: when the price of natural gas has increased tenfold, I repeat tenfold, no government can fully absorb such an increase. Whoever tells you the opposite is “selling you cheap lies at a high price”.

Finally, as regards the “political” aspect of the war, we say without hesitation: however much some people may wish for unrest in our homeland, they will be disappointed. We are a free state with democratic institutions.

With a cohesive government, with a very strong mandate. With a Prime Minister who does not yield to pressures. And who, chiefly remains faithful to the obligation to ensure that the country continues to move forward. To lead it again into the open field.

I will do that, whatever the cost I have to bear. My patriotic conscience imposes that on me. There is no question of my provoking political instability. I will lead the country surely and safely to national elections at the end of the four-year term. And then we will be measured and will face our opponents.

Ladies and gentlemen,

According to the classic calendar, we are coming into the final year of our first governmental term. “Society’s” calendar, however, tells us that the needs of the citizens extend beyond the four-year periods. All the more so when it requires the solution of deep-seated problems which have persisted for decades. Our own “political” calendar aims to see today’s picture in the light of the Greece of 2030. For that reason, the slogan “we said it, we did it” now needs to turn its momentum towards the future.

For that reason, I am today announcing 21 initiatives which will be unfolded in three time cycles: Eight support measures for immediate application by the end of 2022. Twelve big changes which will be set in motion from the beginning of 2023 and will remain on a permanent basis, and will be incorporated in the budget which we will vote on at the end of the year. And a sectoral plan which will respond to a major problem – that of housing, chiefly for the young – which will start to be implemented immediately.

I will start with those things which will be in force from tomorrow in response to the needs of the moment.

1. In December, 2.3 million of our most vulnerable fellow-citizens will once more receive support. The benefit will be 250 euros and it will be given to those on low pensions, the uninsured very old, people with disabilities and the long-term unemployed. While those in receipt of the Guaranteed Minimum Income will receive an extra monthly instalment and those entitled to child benefit will receive an instalment one and a half times the normal one.

2. The student housing benefit is to be increased immediately from 1,000 to 1,500 euros. This will facilitate the daily lives of tens of thousands of students in the cities where they are studying,

In addition, for eligible students who decide to share the same rented accommodation the grant will be increased to 2,000 euros per person.

3. Last year the heating allowance was increased from 84 million to 174 million euros. This year it will reach 300 million The criteria are to be expanded so as to afford relief to around 1.3 million households.

At the same time, for those who are eligible and who are using heating oil or other forms of fuel, except for natural gas, for the first time this year, the allowance will be doubled. A powerful incentive to replace electricity or natural gas with other forms of heating, I would emphasise, where that is possible. At the same time we are studying and will shortly be ready to announce a special measure which will reduce the cost of heating oil at the pump for Greek consumers.

4. For the primary sector, for our farmers and stock raisers, there will be an emergency allowance for farmers of 60 million euros to offset the cost of fertilisers. And 50,000 stock raisers will receive 89 million euros to meet the increased prices of animal feeds.

5. From now on, the number of those eligible for the exceptionally successful “Recycle – Replace” programme for household appliances is being increased by 200,000. We will make 140 million euros available for this from the Public Investments Programme.

Even more importantly, we are securing the necessary space on the electricity network so that it can now accept power for consumption from individual producers. We will be funding 250,000 small photovoltaic installations on the roofs of houses, at businesses and agricultural holdings. They will consume their own energy for free. This programme will be announced shortly by the ministry of Energy and Development.

6. After the exceptionally successful summer tourist season we want to give additional incentives for the extension of the tourist season, chiefly through the expansion of the “Tourism for All” programme [which subsidises holidays for those on low incomes] so as to cover another 200,000 new beneficiaries. So that our fellow citizens do not feel that because of the financial crisis they cannot take a holiday this year.

We will grant additional funds for the extension of the tourist season into the winter. They will be made available so that Greece can be advertised along with the EOT, with airlines and tour operators, for the period up to March 2023.

7. We are meeting immediately a series – not all but a series – of requests by the Armed Forces: pay increments for long-term volunteers and infantry on short-term reassignments. The extension of the 5-year combat term and overnight compensation. There will be additional pay for the crew of naval ships which are on a mission.

8. In order to create more permanent jobs, from tomorrow until the end of 2023, any businesses which convert their workers’ part-time contracts into permanent will be relieved of 40 per cent of their insurance contributions for those workers.

And something for traders and small business which are planning to take on a new staff member: as from now, under one condition, if they increase the average annual number of full-time employees, they will not pay business tax in that year.

I will now proceed to the package of permanent measures which will be in force from January 2023:

The 3-point reduction in insurance contributions will become permanent. A measure which will increase the disposable income of 2.2 million workers, simultaneously reducing salary costs for businesses.

The Special Solidarity Contribution is abolished for ever and for everyone – both public- and private-sector employees and pensioners. A burden dating from the bailouts is at an end, giving relief to almost 3 million taxpayers.

Also in the public sector, together with the abolition of the Solidarity Contribution, and the institution for the first time of Target Achievement Incentives, there is an end to the non-productive contribution to the former Staff Welfare Fund. Another relief.

In practical terms, a section head in the public sector will benefit annually by 364 euros, a simple employee, newly hired, by 109 euros. A director by 591 euros and a director-general by 1,125 euros.

After many years the pensions of 1.5 million pensioners with low or zero personal difference are to be increased.* The extent of the increase will be derived as 50 per cent of the increase in GDP and 50 per cent of the change in the Consumer Price Index. This year we estimate that it will be over 6 per cent.

* The Greek pension system was overhauled in 2016 and 2020 to provide a unified pension scheme for all. The personal difference is the difference between the pension received under the old rules and that under the new rules. An adjustment period allowed for those who had received pensions under the old scheme to be paid a proportion of the difference with that which they would have received under the new scheme.

Pensioners with a high personal difference will see an increase in their income not from the increase in pensions, which will be restricted by the high personal difference, but from the abolition of the Solidarity Contribution, as we are talking mainly about those with higher pensions.

And one more thing, to which I attach great importance. From 1st January 2023 we are revising the Special Salary scheme of the National Health Service’s 20,000 doctors, increasing the basic salary and the responsibility allowances. The increase will be on average in the order of 10 per cent of total salaries. I would like it to be larger but unfortunately at the moment we do not have further financial resources.

At the same time however, we will start a very importance exercise, which is the revision of the wages of almost 600,000 public employees. The emphasis will be not only on the lower paid, but on the support of those in positions of responsibility. We aim to have the new salary scheme in operation from 1st January 2024.

To support families and to counter the demographic problem, but also to restore justice to new mothers, the maternity allowance in the private sector is being increased immediately from 6 to 9 months.

The reduced rate of VAT on transport, on coffee and on non-alcoholic drinks is being extended until June 2023. And the same will apply to Culture, Tourism, gymnasia and dance schools.

The VAT of 24 per cent on new building remains suspended until the end of 2024, in order to support the building sector.

The operating framework of Greek capital markets is to be overhauled. with substantial investment and tax incentives.

And from 1st January 2023, to improve the quality of life in local communities, the Central Independent Resources of local government are to be increased by 120 million euros. This is money which will be translated into projects for all, together with a complex exercise relating to the reassessment of the way in which the resources are administered, so that it is more just and corresponds to the real needs of municipalities.

Finally, the new year will see the start of the process of readjustment of the minimum wage, as we have done twice up to today. Our aim is for it to come into force on 1st March 2023.

Dear friends,

The measures I am announcing today – emergency ones for the remainder of 2022 and permanent ones from 2023 – amount to around 5.5 billion euros, without, I would stress, including the monthly electricity subsidies for all. They are added to the almost 50 billion which the state has already made available as a bulwark against the successive crises.

In this way we are developing a safety net for society, laying the bases for a better future. There are three goals: relief for the citizens, preservation of jobs and stimulation of businesses.

This comprehensive plan is being supplemented by an ambitious programme for a particularly vital problem of our time: the problem of housing, especially for young couples, for our young fellow-citizens. A problem which did not exist a few years ago, when the economy was in recession, but which is the result of rapid economic development and the increase in objective values, in actual values and in rents.

We will be launching a programme of 1.8 billion euros which will be directed at more than 100,000 beneficiaries with a series of initiatives, to enable them to buy or rent a home more cheaply. The actions will start from next month, while those which involve new construction will obviously proceed more gradually.

To be more specific, apart from the increase in the student subsidy from 1,000 to 1,500 euros and the 2,000 euros going to 50,000 young people, the construction is starting immediately of 8,150 places in five up-to-date student hostels at the universities of Crete, Thessaly, Western Macedonia, Thrace and Western Attica. The sites have already been designated and the works will be carried out through public-private partnerships.

We are inaugurating a special programme of loans, amounting to 500 million euros initially, with 375 million funded by the state and 125 million by the banks. Our aim is to secure very low, almost zero interest rates for the purchase of their first homes by 10,000 fellow citizens up to the age of 39, in areas where there are old buildings today.

What does this mean? That a couple, with a minimal deposit, will be able to buy a home worth 100,000 euros with monthly instalments of 275 euros. An amount, that is to say, which is far smaller than the rent they would have to pay for such a dwelling.

We want to encourage home ownership, and we want to find tools and incentives for the restoration of old houses. As you know, there are many of these, chiefly in the big cities. That is why we are creating another improvement scheme, entitled “I Save and I Modernise” for 20,000 young people. Every eligible person will receive up to 20,000 euros for energy-related improvements to their property, together with an additional subsidy of 3,000 euros and a low-interest loan of 7,000 euros.

At the same time, as an incentive to at least 10,000 owners of unoccupied properties, there will be a government grant of up to 10,000 euros for their modernisation. With the proviso, however, that they must be offered for long-term rental. In this way the state will cover up to 40 per cent of the cost of renovating unoccupied flats.

We will be establishing a new instrument for public building sites and buildings – and you know that there are very many of these – the concept of “social compensation”. In simple words, the state will offer unused properties to private builders. The latter will build contemporary dwellings at their own cost. Half of these will be offered at low rent to young tenants while the rest will be commercially exploited by the owners. An instrument which is commonly used in many large European cities which have similar housing problems.

Also, in order to increase the properties available for Greeks, we are increasing the threshold for the granting of Golden Visas from 250,000 to 500,000 euros.

From December we are starting a pilot programme called “Estia 2” [estia = home or hearth]. In the first phase the government will rent 1,000 private properties in order to subsequently make them available, with speeded-up processes and at very low rents, to vulnerable households. We have a lot of experience of these processes from the original “Estia” programme, which we used to provide accommodation to immigrants and refugees who had already acquired the right of residence in our country.

As you will perceive, this is a coherent programme of care and development. A programme which brings relief to the employed, but at the same time encourages business activity. With methodical targeting, so that it is aimed at all social groups and all ages, with extra emphasis, naturally, on our young people and, faithful to the policy of taxation relief, in order to increase public wealth.

I want to repeat, however, that all the measures that I have presented today are very carefully costed. In no way do they divert us from the path of fiscal convergence. They are, however, all measures necessary to support the community and to help it get through the most difficult winter for decades.

To the “hawks” of fiscal discipline, who accuse us of giving away a lot, I would say directly: the policy is not only socially just, it is correct in terms of economic policy.

For without the shielding of citizens and businesses, the cost of managing the warzone we would be left with would be much greater. This moreover is the way in which we managed the pandemic. And we proved in practice that our actions were correct.

Finally, to those who will copy these announcements only to increase them two-, three- or four-fold in a bid for popularity, people need only say this: “Thank you gentlemen, but we are not listening. Because we have experienced you, we know you and we don’t believe a word of your false promises.”

Ladies and gentlemen,

I have the honour to lead a party with deep popular and social characteristics. For us there is no policy without reference to the citizen. There is no economy without society.

There is no national identity which is independent of the international. There is no present without comparison with the past which we have lived and the future which we wish for.

What I have described above is not simply a plan of action. It is the practical expression of a structured political philosophy. Which thinks in liberal terms but acts with effectiveness as its primary criterion.

It does not equate the state with the public sector. Without however allowing the private sector to be only driven by profit.

With an outlook which considers an open economy to be a field of progress for all. That personal success can increase public wealth and that in its turn can be transformed into collective prosperity.

And these are some answers to those who are wondering how a centre-right government comes to be following such an extensive social policy. To those who insist on doubting the motivational nature of the free market.

But also to those who are surprised by our patriotic stance on Defence and other national issues. It is simple: we are able to move outside the narrow “box” of our own dogmas. And we are bound only by the result for the country’s interest.

After all, it is not coincidental that the government is in practice up against those who claim to be “progressive”.

Not only those who voted against defence spending and national agreements, but those who recently said no to the rescue of firms in difficulties such as the Elefsina shipyard. [An action which succeeded in] saving 600 jobs. Creating many more. Bringing millions of euros of investments to long-suffering Western Attica.

The differences, I think, speak for themselves.

It has been said that thought and comparison go together. And it’s true. Because the last three years have proved to be a truly new page in the country’s trajectory.

Not just one more paragraph in a familiar narrative. But a a truly different chapter from a different book.

Consequently, the forces which began to write it collectively in the summer of 2019, ought to be reassembled. And the currents of democracy and progress to be brought together once more. Putting aside differences so that we can come together in the great changes which the nation is so in need of.

Because the coordinated progress of our nation towards tomorrow requires the mobilising of the social front which believes in it. With our party, that of Nea Dimokratia, in the lead of course. We have demonstrated – as successive Presidents and former Prime Ministers know – as we have done many times in the past, that we can surpass our ideological limits and express the aspirations of the majority of Greeks.

All those who want security and progress. All those who want a government which supports them in difficult times, but does not stifle their creativity.

All those who realise that in the unprecedented times in which we live, the capacity to manage crises is not just a theoretical exercise, but a condition of the country’s survival. Thus political stability ceases to be a party preference. It is transformed into a national necessity.

Also a national necessity, now, is the country’s ability to respond to every new challenge. Because, let’s face it, when a storm comes, what is needed is a firm hand on the rudder, a capable captain and an experienced crew.

What is needed is a government with a strong popular mandate which will make decisions without lengthy discussion of the alternatives, without getting caught up in fruitless bargaining. Quickly and effectively.

Recognition of this fact – and allow me to end with this observation – then turns into a dilemma for every citizen:

Will a second chance be given to those who held the nation upright in the midst of so many challenges?

To those who made it stronger and prouder? To those who built relationships of trust by keeping their word and implementing the preelection programme for which they were voted in. To those who reduced taxes and brought investments and new jobs? To those who put the country on the path of modernisation so that we feel that we are really getting near to becoming a European country?

To those who gave the Greek citizen the right, despite the great difficulties, to finally hope for a better life.

The difficulties which are coming increase our responsibilities. And so I would ask you, if we don’t take them on, then who will?

Ladies and gentlemen,

You have before you all that the moment demands: the stages in a difficult but very productive three years. The Road Map for the country which begins from tomorrow, unfolds in 2022 and extends into the future.

The political content of the government’s choices. The facts of a troubled international juncture. But also the ways in which the country will once again come out victorious. With Confidence, with Consequence and Continuity in progress.

I will close with the words of a liberal thinker, Giorgos Theotokas, written in 1936. Words which show that everything which is happening now in our country has been a requirement for many decades and for many generations of Greeks.

I will read:

“We are helped by being free from every form of fanaticism. The aim of our policies is not to justify some theory. But to steer the Greek ship safely among reefs. We know what needs to be done at each moment and what to needs to be prepared for the next moment.”

I quote this extract with respect. As an epilogue to our communication today. But also as a dynamic prologue to our new course. Because the details of the future are clearly set out before us.

We are called upon to choose the path of development or of reversal. Of modernisation or anachronism. Of certainty or uncertainty. Of patriotism or of national indifference and of social wellbeing or economic stasis.

We now know who is able to manage and to overcome crises. And we know those who remain forever as jeering bystanders. And because of that, when the moment comes, we will elect not just a government, but a pilot for the nation.

We are proceeding, therefore with Certainty and Consistency. With a plan and a result. With truth and optimism. And with faith in everything that Greek men and women want and can achieve. For a Sovereign Greece, today and tomorrow!

I thank you all.

The original text of this speech can be found on the Prime Minister’s website: https://primeminister.gr/2022/09/10/30110.