The head of his financial department severely criticized the government for the state of the economy SYRIZA-P.S.Efi Ahtsiogluas part of his interview at the Delphi Forum.

Commenting on what the Minister of Finance mentioned earlier in his interview at the Forum, Christos Staikourassaid that “the reality is much worse than this extremely pleasant description of the course of the Greek economyand how “listening to it, most households and the vast majority of businesses would feel that some people don’t realize they live somewhere else.”

Ms. Ahtsioglu said that the reality reflected in all the indicators (ELSTAT, Eurostat, yesterday’s OECD report) is that real income has been declining throughout the entire period of ND management. and last year, in particular, that SMEs are under suffocating pressure from debt and lack of liquidity, and “the surplus is the result of a very large robbery due to indirect taxes (4 billion more in 22 from VAT compared to the previous year) “.

“It mostly affects the popular and middle classes” and “it’s because the government made a very specific choice during the big boom period, it didn’t lower the indirect tax rates, resulting in VAT and fuel excise revenue being swept away, it didn’t intervene in particular into the energy market and did not set the rules, did not make strong interventions on wages and left them stuck for more than three years.”

Ms. Ahtsioglu argued that this situation “appears as an absolute discomfort for the citizens”. He commented that the government has no right to claim that it cannot control the market and therefore does not cut taxes, noting that “although we have seen an alarming decline in income for the vast majority, only 15 listed companies have made a 20-year record of profitability.”

note that SYRIZA will set the rules in the market so that there is no speculation and that he proposes a policy package that includes: market intervention in terms of capping energy prices, reducing indirect taxes (VAT on basic goods and VAT on fuel) and raising wages.

When asked if SMEs could withstand the increase in the minimum wage to 880 euros “here and now”, she gave the example of the 2019 wage increase during her speech at the Ministry of Labor, answering that “the reality is the opposite, and the results of this increase have shown this period “. He added that “such wage increases also mobilize citizens’ ability to consume, and the results of the economic growth of that period also showed this.”

He mentioned that N.D. government for four years as a result, “real wages also fell by about 7.5% in 22, while Greece is the only country in Europe to show a decline in nominal wages in 19-22.”“.

Ms. Ahtsioglu stressed that it is about small and medium-sized enterprises if the measures to increase wages are also accompanied by measures to facilitate and facilitate SMEs.

He said in particular that SYRIZA is presenting two parallel plans: debt regulation, real regulation of private debt to banks and funds with the protection of professional housing and first residence. The other is the ability to access liquidity, which the government has failed miserably. The Development Bank, the microcredit institution must work.” He stressed that this network of measures, combined with tax measures (tax-free levy of 10,000 euros, abolition of business tax) will also give small and medium-sized enterprises a breather and an opportunity to increase household consumption.

Asked if a “general” suspension of auctions – until a holistic plan for bank debt is implemented – would benefit strategic defaulters and how long such a general suspension could last, Ms Ahtsioglu replied that the SYRIZA program on private debt, he was talking about a suspension auctions with criteria that, in any case, have a holistic regulatory framework. Well, he explained, “this is an interim measure that we are talking about, with the suspension of auctions with the PNP, not indefinitely, but with the property protection criteria and property value criteria that we have already established.”

He spoke in detail about the party’s overall plan to protect first homes, commercial housing, agricultural land, noting that “at the moment there is neither a serious basis for regulating citizens’ debts, nor real protection of first homes.” houses, commercial housing, farmland” and that “about 2,000 auctions are scheduled this week alone.”

Source: RES-IPE

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