He returns, after the summer break, to his regular Sunday review governmental project the Kyriakos Mitsotakisreferring to a range of topics related to the economy, family support and other areas of everyday life.
In detail, today’s post from the Prime Minister is as follows:
“Good morning! The forced summer holidays and the TIF kept us away from our regular Sunday meeting for a while, but from today I am back to our weekly report. I have a lot to tell you that will change citizens’ daily lives for the better and bring us, as a country, closer to European standards.
Last weekend, at TIF, I referred to this double leap we need to make to close the still large income gap with the rest of Europe and, at the same time, eliminate the inequalities that keep developing regions of the country stuck compared to Attica.
We are not where we were in 2019. Greece is changing year after year and in several areas the results of this transformation are already visible. However, we know that we need to act faster, more fairly and more efficiently in order to make up for the time lost during more than ten years of crisis.
We are not just another government. We are a different government. And the proof of this is the 45-point plan I presented at this year’s TIF. It was not a “basket” of stupid benefits and empty promises, but specific measures that, on the one hand, transform the economy by increasing its productivity and extroversion, and on the other hand support many social groups and, first and foremost, the younger generation. A plan characterised by realism, vision and responsibility, within the financial framework defined by the EU, so that we never again get involved in adventures.
The economic policy for 2025 includes 12 wage increases (for public and private sector employees, pensioners and vulnerable groups) and 12 tax cuts, the most important of which is a further reduction of social security contributions by one unit. The increase in disposable income is also a response to the problem of punctuality that is testing families. That is why, in addition to income “banks” and wage and pension increases, we are also supporting family income in other ways, such as free digital tutoring for 120,000 third-level students, free afternoon surgeries for 37,500 of our fellow citizens, our low-cost mortgage policy for 20,000 couples or single families, and our interest-free energy savings and modernization program for at least 20,000 old apartments. We will continue to fight the battle to support incomes against inflation that in recent months has stabilized at levels lower than those at the beginning of the year and close to the 2% target that we set.
Especially for the medical and nursing staff of the National Health System, in addition to the salary subsidies of the previous year and the 20% increase in their on-call pay, from 2025 there will be an independent taxation of ESY doctors on call at a rate of 22%, thus satisfying a permanent request from them. The average monthly net benefit is estimated at 150 euros and in many cases exceeds 200 euros. In addition, we are providing an additional incentive of 200 to 600 euros per month, depending on the specialty and region, to attract and retain doctors in problematic and arid areas. I would like to announce one more, very important thing, aimed at strengthening Primary Health Care: from 01/01/2025, doctors who choose Pathology or General Medicine as their specialty will receive a one-time financial incentive of 30 thousand euros, in addition to their salary as specialists. We hope to increase the number of Pathologists and General Practitioners available in the NHS, which corresponds to only 6% of all specialties, when in the rest of Europe it represents 20% of the medical population.
I will now turn to our family support policy. This is perhaps the most important government concern that is becoming more pressing across the demographic spectrum. That is why we are creating a special demographic observatory, which will allow us to monitor developments and take action. In addition, as I announced at the TIF, we are proceeding with the lifetime recognition of the status of three children in almost 200,000 families that will be certified through the gov.gr platform. In this way, the recruitment quota in the public sector for those with three children is being increased to the same percentage as those with many children, from 12% to 16% of the total advertised vacancies. Although the provisions that exist for those with many children regarding their participation in favourable housing programmes are already in place. Other measures: The three basic OPECA benefits (Guaranteed Minimum Income, Housing and Family Allowance) are being reformed and increased, the “Babás de Bairro” programme, worth €100 million from the QREN, will now be implemented nationwide, while we are giving the country’s municipalities the opportunity to add 20,000 new places in municipal and private daycare centres. We have already increased this year’s budget for daycare centres and Creative Employment Centres for People with Disabilities by €18 million, which means 6,300 additional vouchers (5,000 for babies and young children and 1,300 for people with disabilities over the age of 22, totalling 173,364 places). In addition, private health insurance for children under 18 and voluntary company benefits and vouchers for new parents will now be tax-exempt. An important measure is also the free preventive fertility examination for women between 30 and 35 years old.
From family support, I will now move on to Housing, a problem that plagues many large cities in Europe. After tough negotiations with the European Commission, the second “My Home” Programme is being launched immediately, worth €2 billion, with resources from the Recovery Fund, which will allow young people and couples up to the age of 50 to buy a home at half the commercial interest rate. The mortgage repayment will be lower than what they would pay if they rented a house with similar specifications. We are also doing something else: we have secured €400 million from the Recovery Fund for interest-free loans of up to €20,000, earmarked exclusively for the energy requalification of almost 20,000 old homes, a programme that is in line with the “Renovar-Arrendar” programme and other actions by the Ministry of Energy. At the same time, in response to constant requests from property owners’ associations, a three-year tax exemption is being introduced for owners who rent out their currently closed flats on a long-term lease. There are over 700,000 gated apartments, of which approximately 250-300,000 are in Attica alone.
As regards short-term rentals linked to the problem of high housing prices, we are establishing new incentives and disincentives to balance one person’s right to profit with another’s right to housing. But we are also not abandoning our social housing plan, taking advantage of idle state properties, such as the 18-acre CHROPEI site, where hundreds of apartments can be built. Similar smaller but important properties in good areas exist throughout Attica and the rest of Greece. There will also be a change in the legislation to make the so-called social compensation framework more attractive. I will write to you about this when we have news.
This year’s school year has also already begun, with 11 important changes in primary and secondary education, which I believe will significantly contribute to improving the daily lives of students, teachers and parents. I will focus on strengthening the permanent teaching staff with 10,000 new permanent teacher appointments – a record number – that we have made this year. Appointments in special education are quadrupling compared to 2023 and there are eight times more positions for special education staff and special assistants in all specialties. Starting this week, a major innovation is being piloted: the digital tutorial for the national exam subjects, which will be completely free for all students, with live evening classes on all the exam subjects. I am pleased that the “Mobile phone in the bag” initiative has been well received, not only by parents but also by students. Another very important government intervention is the 250 million euro “Marietta Giannakou” program, for the renovation of hundreds of schools throughout Greece. The resources will come from the Public Investment Program, but here is a national offering field for wealthy people.
With regard to the labour market, the pilot application of the digital work card is now being extended to the tourism and catering sectors. The measure has already been successfully applied to around 750,000 employees employed in banks, large supermarkets, insurance companies, security companies and DEKO, with the total number of companies estimated at 73,000. With the extension to the tourism and catering sectors, it is estimated that it will reach a total of around 1,500,000. The aim of the digital work card is to fully safeguard workers’ rights and protect them from abusive undeclared overtime policies and illegal changes and excessive working hours. Its effectiveness is confirmed by significant increases in declared overtime in integrated sectors, such as supermarkets, for example, where a cumulative increase of +61.2% has been observed since the beginning of the implementation of the measure until the end of 2023.
The last topic for today is sports, as the new league has started, with new safety rules inside and outside the stadiums, for the first time also regarding the operation of the Fan Clubs. We had promised that there would be one fan club per PAE and we are making it happen. Seven Fan Clubs, which correspond to the same number of clubs in the Super League 1 – AEK, Aris, Olympiacos, OFI, Panathinaikos, Panserraikos, PAOK, as well as the amateur team Herakles – have obtained from the Ministry of Sports the required certificate for the timely submission of data in order to obtain, after the prescribed on-site inspections, their annual operating license. From this year onwards, the process is carried out digitally through the Digital Register of Fan Club Members on gov.gr, which facilitates the valid and quick search for the necessary information for reasons of public safety. States, citizens and sportspeople must be on the same page to protect sport from violence by a few.
So that’s it for today. As you can see, we’re back strong and will continue to do so. See you next Sunday!”