With his statement, the message that inflation is an absolute priority for the government and criticism of the opposition for its proposals that ‘lead to bankruptcy without return’ included the speech of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in the debate in Parliament on Friday morning.
Mitsotakis began in Parliament the pre-agenda debate on inflation.
The Prime Minister also referred to the importance of Greece’s strong voice in Europe after the European elections, insisting on the initiative of his own government to take action by the Commission against unfair practices of multinationals under the pretext of geographical restrictions, referring to the inflation of greed and speculative practices.
The Prime Minister demolished the myths, as he said, that the opposition is cultivating about the problem of price inflation, recalling that it was the government of New Democracy that raised the minimum wage, reduced 50 taxes and gave the first raises in 14 years to civil servants.
See the keynote speech of Kyriakos Mitsotakis:
“I immediately agreed to hold today’s debate as the subject of the debate, the issue of inflation is the first problem that Greek households are concerned about, I would say it is the elephant in the room.
That is why tackling the problem of inflation is an absolute priority for the government. The debate may give us an opportunity to confront each other on the basis of facts and figures and for citizens to understand the truth and the parties’ positions on this complex problem.
All the more so when the invasion of Ukraine and the gas and energy price rises have sealed the second half of the government and we have managed to stave off electricity rises. But the problem persists especially in food inflation.
A difficult gamble that takes time and systematic effort, knowledge of reality and realism. The high prices of food and rents nibble away at disposable income, so we are trying to support income with targeted measures and hit obscenity,” Kyriakos Mitsotakis said at the beginning of his statement.
As he added “systematic effort requires permanent support measures with wage increases and tax cuts. Increases that are permanent and will be in place even after the end of inflation. I do not want to embellish the situation but we have to agree on the real facts”.
“Let’s go and see what is happening in food. We see a reverse of general inflation. Food inflation is weighted at 22% in general inflation. There was a time at the beginning of the crisis when food inflation was higher than the European average, followed by a fall and again today it is just above the EU’s MTO,” the Prime Minister continued.
“I will not refer to the 5-year figures where Greece had a lower average than Europe and I choose to stick to the 3-year figures which are the most difficult for the government.
The data say that the problem of accuracy has national peculiarities and common elements with other eurozone countries. It is not only a Greek problem,” Mitsotakis added.
Referring to the letter he sent to Ursula von der Leyen, the Prime Minister explained “why the problem in our country is more painful”, adding that “that is why I wrote to the President of the Commission asking for another intervention because the multinational giants cannot impose restrictions on retail trade.
The same product cannot be sold at different prices in Athens, Paris or Amsterdam. It fragments the single market and is a practice of obscenity. The Union must counter these decades-old practices with an updated policy of strict rules. Only yesterday the Competition Commissioner imposed a mammoth fine of over €300 million on an American company for these unfair practices.
“We call for this European arsenal to be strengthened even further. It is not only Greece that is asking for this, but 7 other European countries. Why now? Because now the problem has been highlighted in its full intensity and in different countries. The Netherlands, Greece, the Czech Republic, etc. Even Europe was surprised by this phenomenon.
In its forecasts it did not see such high inflation. This inflation of greed, which has a real basis, must be radically addressed. The issue must be registered as a European priority and the European Commission accepts this when it describes our proposal as important for the future of Europe.
The Letta report makes reference to the need for the market to work for the benefit of consumers too. Another of our proposals is put in the spotlight”, said Greek PM, who addressed the opposition parties and asked “was there any party that had earlier proposed a European regulation that we are proposing today? How many alternative proposals have been tabled?”
“What I am hearing from the opposition is a harsh criticism but also uncalled for proposals. Before I come to the need to dispel 5 myths that to a certain extent dominate the public debate I am surprised that a proposal of ours that has an impact on Europe is criticised by the left.
Excuse me, aren’t you on the left perennially against monopolies?” the prime minister continued his informal dialogue with the opposition.
Watch live the debate in Parliament:
