However, I insist on saying that this energy turmoil is a European problem and cannot be addressed only with advice to limit consumption. Common, bold solutions are urgently needed. For this very reason, Greece is asking Europe for greater fiscal flexibility, the prime minister points out in his weekly message.
In detail:
Good morning! October is already here, with autumn making its presence felt, unfortunately with particular intensity in Crete. My thoughts are with our fellow citizens who were tested by the severe weather, saw their properties flooded and their daily lives overturned. The Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection mobilized the mechanism preventively, with Crete in a state of heightened alert, meetings of the Risk Assessment Committee and coordination of all the involved bodies.
Warnings were issued through 112 and movements were restricted in dangerous areas. After the heavy rains, our forces proceeded with rescues and interventions, while the Region and Municipalities are working to restore access to the affected areas. On Monday, a government delegation will be on the island to coordinate the recording of the damage and the restoration procedures. I thank those operating in the field. The first priority is human life and immediately after that the support of those affected.
On the important developments of the week, I pick up the thread from the measures to support society against the new energy pressures. The prolonged deadlock around the Strait of Hormuz is constantly causing new pressures and, in no case, would I want to hide behind my finger.
We are in a difficult juncture. What matters most is not to allow a global crisis to turn into a national dead end for Greek households. We know that we are not solving the problem as if by magic, but we are trying to provide real relief. That is why, for the next 15 days, we are increasing the subsidy at the pump for diesel fuel from 10 to 15 cents, which together with the discount from the refineries, will ultimately reach 20 cents.
At the same time, shortly before October 15, we will announce our measures for heating oil, with the clear goal of keeping the price below 1.75 euros per liter, while we will also proceed with a horizontal increase in the heating allowance, as I have already said. We will monitor the situation every two weeks, moving within the limits of our capabilities to support society.
However, I insist on saying that this energy turmoil is a European problem and cannot be addressed only with advice to limit consumption. Common, bold solutions are urgently needed. For this very reason, Greece is asking Europe for greater fiscal flexibility.
We propose that we be able to use the additional revenues from VAT arising because of high prices, so that we can channel them directly into targeted support for households and businesses, without these temporary measures being counted against the strict spending ceilings.
Europe’s rules and infrastructure were built in other, calmer times, when energy was cheap. Now the data have changed radically and we must adapt to reality. I have already sent a relevant letter to the President of the European Commission and the President of the Eurogroup, asking that we take this necessary step.
In this pressing juncture, we are also increasing from 72 to 120 the repayment installments for overdue debts to the Tax Office and social security funds, with a minimum installment of 30 euros and with the interest rate remaining low, at the level of the 24-installment arrangement.
At the same time, we are making the terms for servicers stricter, protecting the consistent debtor from auction or seizure. If a company violates an agreed arrangement, then the act will be annulled, a fine of up to 500,000 euros will be imposed and the citizen will be credited with 5 installments of the original agreement. There will be a 15% cap on the down payment, instead of the creditor’s free discretion. And if the citizen does not receive a full picture of his debt within 45 days, then interest will be frozen.
Our goal is to create a safety net, as is already being done with the out-of-court mechanism for the primary residence, so that citizens can have a real second chance.
I am changing the subject and coming to a major cycle that closed this week: we submitted to the EU the last two disbursement requests, completing on time, as on all previous occasions, the required milestones, which means that we will absorb the totality of the Fund’s resources, amounting to 36 billion euros, close to 16% of GDP, the largest European support in proportion to the size of our economy (besides, the European Commission itself recognized that Greece stood out in the utilization of the Recovery Fund among the 27 member states).
To put it differently, in half the time of an NSRF we managed to absorb almost double the money. How and what did we achieve? Through an organized plan, “Greece 2.0” based on the proposals of the Pissarides report, we managed to rebuild the economy after the heavy blow of the decade-long crisis. Real GDP rose by 11 points, more than 550,000 new jobs were created and investments soared by 60%, exceeding our initial estimates.
But I want us to dwell on some other numbers that show how much the utilization of the RRF has already changed the lives of all Greeks:
- 9 million citizens use gov.gr.
- 7 million citizens had free preventive examinations, with more than 300,000 being referred in time for further treatment.
- 5.2 million citizens have already registered with their free personal doctor and 165,000 children have their free personal pediatrician.
- 2.5 million workers are protected by the digital work card and more than 7.5 million overtime hours were recorded and paid.
- 1.2 million insured persons use the digital health file.
- 410,000 students use the free digital tutoring service (which, let me say on this occasion, has started operating for the 2026-2027 year).
- More than 180,000 households benefited from energy-saving programs and the replacement of heating systems and solar water heaters.
- 25,500 residents of mountainous and island areas were examined by the mobile health units.
- More than 23,000 households acquired their own first home thanks to My Home 1 and 2.
- 20,000 fellow citizens underwent surgery in free afternoon surgeries.
- 1,812 people with disabilities who acquired their own personal assistant.
- 99% of the country now has posted cadastral data.
To the reforms that improved the functioning of the state and the daily life of citizens are added major infrastructure projects. Without, of course, diminishing the importance of all these projects and reforms, I firmly believe that the greatest “dowry” that “Greece 2.0” leaves us is not only the 36 billion euros, but the proof that the Greek state can. It can plan, it can execute, it can confront rigidities of the past and move forward.
This is our real achievement, that we cast off the belief that “nothing changes here”. The wager now is not whether we can make it, but whether we will have the courage never to lower the bar again.
And precisely because we proved that we can, it is important to answer the next question as well: what happens after the Recovery Fund? The answer is that the next day does not start from zero, nor is it based on wishes. There is already the National Development Program, which will mobilize investments of 23 billion euros, that is, 13 billion more than in the previous programming period. There are also resources of more than 8 billion euros from the Social Climate Fund, the Modernisation Fund and the Decarbonisation Fund, while 19 billion euros still remain from the NSRF 2021-2027.
Before us also lies the new major European negotiation, for resources of more than 49 billion euros. And it has its own significance that this negotiation is very likely to unfold during the Greek Presidency of the Council of the European Union, in the second half of 2027. That is why the preparation of the Presidency is not a formal process, but one of the 12 horizontal priorities of the government planning that we presented at the recent Cabinet meeting.
Because the issue is not only how much money the country will have at its disposal. It is where it will go and what result it will have. Our central objectives until 2030 are clear: sustainable growth and higher incomes, stronger defense and international presence, a more effective state and faster justice, better education and health services, safer transport, affordable energy and protection of the natural environment.
In the news from the labor market, unemployment fell to 7.4% last August, the second lowest rate ever recorded in our country, while August was the third month this year with unemployment below 8%. It is worth noting that improvement is recorded in all subcategories: among men unemployment stood at 4.9%, from 6.9% in last August, among women at 10.3%, from 11.1%, while significant improvement is also recorded in youth unemployment, with the rate falling to 15.6%, from 21.8%.
This progress does not come on its own, but through targeted policies that focus where there is still room for improvement. I will give two examples: for women, who continue to face more obstacles in the labor market, extension of the business subsidy program for the hiring of 10,000 unemployed women, with emphasis on mothers of minor children and its reinforcement with 5,000 additional full-time jobs.
For our young people, we are strengthening vocational education and training, linking it more closely to the real needs of businesses with DYPA branches inside businesses, and we support the ages 18–29 with entrepreneurship programs so that they can make their own professional start. We continue so that this progress reaches even more of our fellow citizens.
The next news item of the week that I will mention is the creation of the National Model Center for Dementia. We are talking about one of the most serious, most complex and fastest-growing public health problems worldwide.
Already in our country about 214,000 of our fellow citizens live with diagnosed dementia, while the mental and physical burden on their families is often enormous. The new Center will offer free holistic care to people with early-stage dementia, such as memory assessment, day care, home care and telemedicine.
At the same time, it will support and train caregivers, even informal ones, who often carry this burden without adequate guidance. It will also have a role in prevention, education and research. The project is being implemented thanks to the donation of 4.49 million euros from the National Bank and the charitable foundations of the “Initiative ’21”, in cooperation with the Ministry of Health.
It is an initiative that concerns health, but also the dignity of patients, their families and all those who fight this difficult battle every day.
Now for issues from the regions. The upgraded high-voltage interconnections of Zakynthos-Kefalonia and Kefalonia-Lefkada were put into operation by ADMIE, replacing lines that had been operating for decades. This means safer and more resilient electricity supply for the Ionian Islands, especially in the summer months, when tourist traffic significantly increases electricity demand.
The next electrical interconnection will be that of Corfu with the mainland system, via Igoumenitsa, within 2027. In Katerini, a new undergraduate program of the International Hellenic University is being created in “Management of Maritime and Combined Transport”, adding one more educational option outside the major university centers.
In the Peloponnese we are providing 3.5 million euros for the participation of people with disabilities and citizens over 65 who face the risk of poverty or social exclusion in sports, cultural and recreational activities.
In Boeotia, the new Emergency Department of Thebes Hospital and the renovated Health Centers of Distomo and Aliartos were inaugurated. In Kos and Syros, the South Aegean Region is allocating 2.8 million euros from European resources for two new Day Centers for Comprehensive Mental Health Care, for people with dementia and Alzheimer’s in Kos and for people with autism and neurodevelopmental disorders in Syros.
In Megalopolis, respectively, a 3.5 million euro project is being included for the bioclimatic upgrade of part of the road network, within the broader framework of the Just Development Transition. In Corfu, after a months-long effort, funding of 21.1 million euros was secured so that the signing of the contract for the project “Water Supply of the City of Corfu from the EAN of Chrysida” can proceed. This is an intervention that comes to address a chronic and very real problem for residents and visitors of the island.
And I close with yesterday, which was special for our Orthodox cultural heritage. Together with the Prime Minister of Bulgaria, my friend, we attended the signing of the protocol for the return to Greece of religious relics that had been transferred to Sofia in 1917, during the First World War, as well as the handover to Bulgaria of the remains of Tsar Samuel, which had been found in 1965 in the Basilica of Saint Achilleios in Florina.
As regards the Greek treasures, these are 48 relics from the Holy Monasteries of Panagia Eikosifoinissa and Timios Prodromos of Serres, as well as from the Holy Metropolis of Serres and Nigrita. They will be exhibited at the Museum of Byzantine Culture until November 5 and then will return to their “home”. This is the first step, and certainly not the last, for the return of all our relics, within the framework of the active cultural diplomacy that we have pursued in recent years with tangible results.
Before I leave you, however, I would like to make a special reference to today, which is the anniversary of the founding of New Democracy, which we celebrate tomorrow Monday, at 18:00, at the old OSY depot. We are proud of our ideas, our values and our course, which began on this day, on October 4, 1974.
With its founding declaration, signed by Konstantinos Karamanlis, calling on us to serve the nation, “beyond and above the old, misleading labels of the left, the right and the center”.
We renew our appointment for next Sunday. Have a good rest of your day!