Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis set out a “roadmap” to 2031 for the future of the market and of businesses as he inaugurated the 90th Thessaloniki International Fair yesterday.

Under the plan, investment in the country would rise by €65 billion, the share of Greek manufacturing in GDP would grow to 12 percent, and the productivity of small and medium sized enterprises would multiply thanks to the upgrading of 300,000 SMEs through automation and artificial intelligence.

In the short term, however, and already from 2026, amid an energy crisis and international uncertainty, the Prime Minister announced benefits and new loans worth €7 billion for businesses and households.

In total, more than 200,000 self employed workers, freelancers and farmers stand to gain around €1,000 to €2,000 a year or more. Under the new measures, from 2027 roughly 1.5 million households will save at least half a salary, or even a full one, every year, once the following are taken into account:

720,000 civil servants who will receive a €500 Christmas bonus in 2027, for the first time in 15 years

400,000 pensioners over 65 who will receive €400 this November, for the first time

650,000 property owners in 131 settlements who will not pay ENFIA, the annual property tax, in 2027

Professionals: a €2,500 benefit for compliant taxpayers

The changes are being pushed through for a vote immediately. The major shift concerns the presumptive tax assessment criteria for self employed workers and, in particular, as revealed by Proto Thema on Sunday, the removal of the criteria that hit freelancers hardest: the surcharges based on turnover and staff payroll costs.

More than 155,000 professionals benefit directly from this change. For example, a catering business that has operated for 15 years with five employees and a payroll of €105,000 in Thessaloniki will gain more than €2,500 a year, according to the Prime Minister.

This benefit is linked to each professional’s tax compliance record, in particular whether they comply with myDATA, Greece’s electronic invoicing and bookkeeping platform, and the terms will be announced on Monday by Minister of National Economy and Finance Kyriakos Pierrakakis.

For compliant professionals the benefit is larger still, with a cut in the advance tax they will pay on their next income tax return in 2027, from 55 percent to 50 percent. The measure obviously only benefits those who declare profits and pay tax, cutting the tax surcharge they pay by 10 percent.

In addition, existing presumptive tax criteria are being cut by 50 percent for everyone based in, and operating a profession or business in, settlements with fewer than 2,000 residents.

Farmers

From 1 November 2026, the special consumption tax on fuel will be refunded to farmers at the pump. Meanwhile, for 50,000 professional farmers, tax on profits of up to €20,000 will be reduced to zero.

Zero tax on such income means that a farmer who would previously have paid, for example, €1,183, will now pay nothing at all, a gain of more than €1,000.

A farmer earning €30,000, who would have paid €5,083 in tax under the existing scale, will in future pay less than half that: €2,183, saving €2,900 a year.

Companies and board executives

For legal entities, however, the Prime Minister announced more modest relief, while bringing in extra charges for board executives and “golden boys” on high pay.

Tax prepayment: for legal entities, this is being cut by five percentage points a year from 2028, so that over six years it falls from 80 percent to 50 percent by 2031.

End of the business trade fee: from 2027, this is abolished for legal entities based, or with a branch, outside the Attica region. For example, a retail business with its head office and one branch in Thessaloniki paid €1,600 in 2026, but will pay nothing in 2027. In Attica, however, the phase out will take longer: the fee is cut by 50 percent in 2028 and abolished completely in 2029, two years later.

Business depreciation: the depreciation period for spending on renewing equipment is being shortened from ten years to six, which encourages businesses to invest more in modernising their equipment overall.

On the other hand, since it has been found that there are cases in which board members or senior executives receive extremely high pay out of company profits (currently taxed at a rate of just 5 percent), a change is being brought in: where such income exceeds €60,000, it will be taxed at 15 percent.

Pensioners

Pensioners will effectively receive an extra national pension through the €400 top up announced by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, which will be paid on a permanent basis every November, starting in November 2026. The number of people who benefit will widen to 2.2 million from 1.87 million, as the income and asset criteria that applied in previous years are abolished, leaving the sole condition for the benefit as the pensioner being aged 65.

The benefit, as announced yesterday by the Prime Minister, has been increased by €100, from €300 to €400, bringing it close to the level of the national pension, which currently stands at €446.

The benefit will also be paid to people with disabilities and to uninsured elderly people, bringing vulnerable social groups who often face higher living costs into the scheme. Widows and widowers will also become entitled to the benefit from the age of 60, rather than 65, provided that their widow’s or widower’s pension is their sole source of income.

At the same time, at the end of December, all 2.5 million pensioners will be brought into the cycle of annual increases, as the personal difference mechanism, a clawback that offsets part of any pension rise for those still affected by past cuts, is abolished for good. The full increase will now also be paid to the 670,000 pensioners who still have an outstanding personal difference balance. It is worth recalling that in 2026, when the personal difference was phased out in two instalments, a large proportion of pensioners received only half of their increase. With the difference now abolished completely, all pensioners will receive genuine increases, since the clawback will no longer eat into the amount of the rise. The remaining personal difference balance will continue to be paid as a separate part of the pension, though it will no longer grow and will instead stay fixed.

The day after

The Prime Minister pointed out that the measures he announced amount to €2.2 billion and, despite the criticism, will be legislated immediately. He noted that the precise commitments he made on timing and figures (by profession, by measure, in net amounts and so on) amount to a “test of realism” and a “passport to credibility”.

He stressed that, as a government, “last year we delivered 100 percent of the measures I announced from this podium, and exactly the same will happen this year with the measures I am presenting to you now”. At the same time, he reminded that any spending overruns above the “ceilings” set by the EU would now automatically trigger European oversight.