Greek Deputy Finance Minister Dimitris Markopoulos said on Sunday that the government would keep intervening for as long as the cost-of-living crisis continues, speaking in a television interview about inflation figures from the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) and rising fuel prices.
Speaking on Mega TV's programme "MEGA Weekend", Markopoulos said the government's support policy would continue. He said that as the crisis deepens heading into winter, the government would make its presence felt.
He recalled that heating support measures had also been introduced last year, worth around 165 million euros. He said that for as long as the crisis lasts, no Greek citizen would be left without protection, adding that this had already been demonstrated through diesel price support.
Markopoulos said the crisis was international in nature, driven mainly by energy costs that were dragging other prices up with them, but said the government was pursuing a specific policy of its own.
Response to PASOK's Bratakos
Asked about proposals from the opposition party PASOK and whether he was satisfied with the measures announced by the government, Markopoulos referred to a PASOK figure identified only as Mr Bratakos, who he said had held a significant government post alongside the prime minister and should therefore know the country's fiscal limits.
Markopoulos said some things had been done, which he could specify, and some had not. He suggested that in his new trade union role, Bratakos may have set aside his concern for fiscal stability, and said he had overlooked a series of measures being rolled out from 2026 into the following year.
He said Bratakos had done himself, and the government's economic intervention, an injustice, describing it as a record economic package for the post-bailout era worth 2.2 billion euros. He said he had personally conducted much of the social dialogue behind it, and that the package had delivered close to what the market had asked for.
Tax measures: presumptive income and business fee
On presumptive taxation rules known as "tekmiria", Markopoulos said they could only be abolished once everyone was digitally interconnected with tax authorities. He said some categories of professionals still resisted having their income made visible, while many others had already connected and would see their tax burden eased.
He declined to name specific professional groups but said the government knew where tax evasion was concentrated. He said four in ten freelance professionals had been given a substantial solution worth around 170 million euros.
He also confirmed the government was scrapping the business trade fee, known as "telos epitideumatos", with immediate effect across Greece except in Attica for now. He said a further intervention next year would cut the fee by 50 percent before eliminating it entirely.
Criticism of Androulakis and Konstantopoulou
Turning to PASOK leader Nikos Androulakis and Zoi Konstantopoulou, Markopoulos accused them of populism. He said Androulakis would be asked to specify where he would find 4 billion euros a year, noting that a 13th pension payment costs 2.5 billion euros and a 13th salary for public sector workers costs 1.5 billion euros.
He said everything Androulakis had presented as major reforms would need at least four years to mature, move forward and be implemented.
Markopoulos said that while state revenues had risen, so had state needs. He pointed to schools that had fallen badly behind on infrastructure and were now being repaired, hospitals needing upgrades after years of austerity under Greece's bailout memorandums, and defence equipment needs given what he called the country's difficult neighbours.
He said Androulakis was making pledges without costing them, which he called dangerous. As an example, he cited Androulakis's call to revive the Katseli law protecting over-indebted borrowers, noting that the government had already legislated on Katseli law loans in July, following a ruling by Greece's Supreme Court (Areios Pagos), and had extended the measure retroactively so that borrowers would see large cuts to their original loan capital.
On Airbnb, he said the government was not studying Androulakis's remarks but rather official statistics showing that 80 percent of homes in central Athens districts such as Plaka, Petralona and Koukaki were being used for Airbnb rentals, leaving residents unable to find housing. He said the government had been the first to draft actual legislation, not just declare an intention, and had done the same for Thessaloniki.
Unemployment benefit debate
On unemployment benefit, Markopoulos addressed recent comments from government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis, saying Marinakis had carefully clarified that his remarks reflected a personal opinion. Markopoulos said he agreed with the government's central policy line, which is that there is no planned intervention on unemployment benefit.
He referred to a Mr Raftopoulos, who had said there were not enough workers available to pick olives in Greece. Markopoulos said representatives from the social dialogue process, including people linked to PASOK, the SYRIZA-descended ELAS grouping, and former prime minister Alexis Tsipras's circle, had told him that one of the biggest current problems was employers being unable to find workers.
He said the spokesman's personal opinion did not change government policy, and that there was no trend or plan in that direction. He noted that nothing had been signalled on the issue in the government's programme presented a week earlier at the Thessaloniki International Fair, which he said would be expanded further and forms the basis of New Democracy's governing programme for the next four years. He said he believed the issue had been raised without justification.
