At the Ministry of Finance, where Georgios Kotsiras was waiting for him, arrived after his swearing-in ceremony as the new Deputy Minister of Finance responsible for tax policy, Dimitris Markopoulos. The new deputy minister had a warm handshake with his predecessor, who is taking over as Deputy Minister of Transport. The outgoing deputy minister spoke first, welcoming his successor. Dimitris Markopoulos praised Kotsiras for his promotion to minister and emphasized that the policy of tax reduction will continue. The new deputy minister reminded about the reductions of 83 taxes and contributions, spoke about approximately 9.5 billion euros as the annual fiscal cost of tax relief, while referring to both the recent support measures worth 500 million euros, as well as interventions for real estate income and living standards presumptions. For his part, Georgios Kotsiras said that during his tenure emphasis was given to shaping a more friendly tax system, combating tax evasion, strengthening the digitization of tax administration and reducing tax burdens. He stressed that the Greek economy is on a positive trajectory and expressed confidence that the effort will continue with the new deputy minister, to whom he wished good luck, noting that he can contribute to further strengthening the results.
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Ministry of Finance: Georgios Kotsiras’ speech
Good evening everyone. I welcome you to the Ministry of National Economy and Finance. Today marks the completion of a particularly creative and productive cycle at this ministry for me and the beginning of an equally demanding new one at the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport.
I would first and foremost like to thank Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis for the trust he has once again shown me, as today I complete my term here and begin a new tenure. I leave the Ministry of National Economy and Finance with particular satisfaction for the work we have accomplished throughout this period. Work that was the result of hard work, excellent cooperation, consistency and goal orientation.
I want to thank from the heart the Minister of National Economy and Finance, Kyriakos Pierrakakis, and the deputy minister, Mr. Thanos Petralias, who are absent today due to their obligations at the Eurogroup and ECOFIN, and I thank them warmly for the excellent cooperation we had throughout this common journey. Also, warm thanks to Deputy Minister Nikos Papathanasis, General Secretary of Tax Policy, Ms. Chrysa Miliou, as well as to all the executives and civil servants of the Ministry of National Economy and Finance. I must say that I had the fortune to meet and work with people and executives of high quality, with the ability to handle complex issues, with professionalism and a strong sense of responsibility.
The staff of the Ministry of National Economy and Finance constitutes valuable capital for the country and a basic pillar of effectiveness for the state. Obviously, I want to thank my office collaborators, who worked tirelessly to help us achieve our common goals. Without colleagues and without people who support you daily, it is impossible to achieve anything.
“Common great effort”
Ladies and gentlemen, during the time I was at the Ministry of National Economy and Finance, I worked to contribute to the common great effort of the Minister of National Economy and Finance, Mr. Pierrakakis and the political leadership of the ministry, in order to shape a friendlier tax system, continue the great effort to combat tax evasion, get closer to society and the market, with chambers of commerce, with market bodies, with every Greek citizen, in order to address modern challenges, given that our country has managed to achieve significant economic development. We tried to further strengthen the digitization of tax administration. Our basic targeting was and remains – and will continue – the reduction of tax burdens and charges, and I believe that our country has managed at this moment under the leadership of Kyriakos Mitsotakis as prime minister and under the excellent course of the Minister of National Economy and Finance Kyriakos Pierrakakis and president of the Eurogroup to have the best possible economic environment on which it can build policies for the future, focusing on the needs and interests of Greek society.
I am certain that this effort will continue even stronger, with even greater optimism and effectiveness, and I consider it certain that the new Deputy Minister of National Economy and Finance, Dimitris Markopoulos, whom I welcome today to the Ministry, will contribute to this effort. I am very happy that this effort, our common effort, the common governmental effort, the common effort for the benefit of society, will be continued and will give all his strength a worthy colleague, a person with whom we were elected MPs in the same period, in 2019, and I believe that the effort he will make will be effective and beneficial for the needs of society and citizens.
Dear Dimitris, I welcome you.
I want to assure you that you are coming to an environment, as I said at the beginning, of exceptional quality, exceptional human resources. I think we have made a very great effort so far. We have achieved a lot and I am certain that your presence here will contribute to achieving even more under the leadership, the Political Leadership of Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis, together with the other members of the Political Leadership, in view of the International Exhibition of Thessaloniki, in view of the challenges we have ahead of us as a national economy, I believe you will contribute in a very productive way to having even better results.
I am happy, therefore, to welcome you here today. I wish you wholeheartedly good success and good strength in your new duties and I believe we will be able to continue this important course for the Greek economy, which overcame the crisis, stood on its feet, is developing and now we can look to the future with greater optimism. Welcome Dimitris.
Dimitris Markopoulos’ speech
Thank you very much. Dear minister – and being promoted to minister means you have taken many positive steps and implemented very correct policies – dear friend Georgios, dear colleagues, because we will work closely together from today and I truly anticipate a productive, substantial cooperation with a very positive spirit. Dear former colleagues, and I am certain that with you too we will build a relationship of truth, because I understand your role very well and I have been through that experience too… with Georgios Kotsiras, as I said, a successful, hardworking, substantial politician, a person who gave his last ounce of strength to advance the tax and economic issues of our country and I consider him absolutely successful and I am particularly pleased with his political evolution.
We had met quite some time before the 2015 referendum. We both belong to the generation of professionals then, who decided to get off the couch, leave their comfortable positions and fight for what they believed in. For a Greece within the Eurozone, for a European Greece, for a Greece of progress.
We have a common political reference point. We are the people who shouted, ran, fought politically for “Yes”. Our rallies may not have been as large as those of “No”, but ultimately, our political ideas were on the right side of history.
Georgios, an active lawyer, politically active, and I, then a journalist reporting on the economy sector, enlisted, moved forward and indeed, as the minister, my friend Georgios, said, in 2019, we were the generation of political victory and confirmation of these ideas. A generation inspired by the vision of the Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis. We joined forces in this exact vision I mentioned, for a modern Greece, a Greece of the 21st century, an economically strong Greece – we are in the relevant, specific area – a Greece of the future.
