A fresh and particularly long-running clash erupted in parliament between Nikos Androulakis and Finance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis over the government’s economic bill, which includes measures to provide financial support.
“Miracles happen, as long as they serve New Democracy’s propaganda,” the PASOK leader said in his opening remarks, accusing the government of changing its position within a month or two “with its eyes on the election”.
He said: “On 7 July , PASOK proposed a 13th pension payment. The prime minister attacked me, calling me a populist and arguing that a 13th pension payment could not be made because there was no fiscal headroom — that there was only €1bn available.
Lo and behold, in August, the fiscal headroom doubled to accommodate Mr Mitsotakis’s measures at the Thessaloniki International Fair.
Whenever the opposition proposes something, fiscal headroom shrinks. But when New Democracy proposes it, it expands, like an accordion.”
He also accused the government of populism and cheap politics even over the €500 allowance for public-sector employees: “You are voting for this allowance in November 2026, saying you will pay it at the end of 2027. Isn’t that a sham?”, he said.
In response, Mr Pierrakakis said the measures in the government’s bill had been calculated on the basis of available fiscal headroom and, in any case, apply to next year: “We had no headroom for 2026, but found some for 2027. Don’t your proposals also apply to 2027? Your criticism would be valid if we did the opposite,” he said.
He also asked where the money for PASOK’s proposals would come from, challenging the party to submit its programme to the Fiscal Council: “so you can tell us what you would cut from the measures we are funding, or whom you would tax more to pay for the measures you are proposing,” he said.
“Obviously, we are not going to go to the Mint like Lafazanis and print drachmas, as you told us the other day. We will cut other things — such as direct awards — tackle the clientelist state and propose a different model of production, so we do not see fallow fields everywhere,” Mr Androulakis replied.
Taking the opportunity to refer to the “Tsavdaridis affair”, he added: “We have another example of a scandal, one of those that break out once a week in New Democracy. They have turned the state into their spoils, and the prime minister has brought them up in a culture of cronyism.”
Replying for a third time, Mr Pierrakakis said that his charge of populism over PASOK’s proposals, too, was not about the proposals themselves but about the fact that their feasibility was being overlooked — “that you believe everything is possible” because “you have discovered the recipe for political happiness”.