“We are developing at much higher rates than the eurozone average, while simultaneously reducing taxes, focusing on private investments, promoting entrepreneurship and improving the business environment,” emphasized Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis who participated in a discussion with BlackRock Vice President Philipp Hildebrand and Adebayo Ogunlesi, Chairman and Managing Partner of Global Infrastructure Partners, at the Athens International Investors Summit, organized by the Hellenic Corporation of Assets and Participations and BlackRock.
The Prime Minister had the opportunity to address powerful investment institutions with broad portfolios about the impressive growth dynamics of the Greek economy, the country’s prospects, investment opportunities and challenges in various sectors, including defense and energy. During the Forum, the establishment of the Greek Infrastructure Innovation Fund was announced, which serves as the investment arm of the Hellenic Corporation of Assets and Participations.
Mitsotakis: Coalition politics can be very complicated
“We achieved all this in an environment of political stability. We have a government with an absolute majority. In 2023, our citizens rewarded us by giving us a new mandate. This distinguishes us, I believe, from many other European countries, because coalition politics can be very complicated,” continued Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
“I think the big challenge, from a political perspective, is to connect the macroeconomic situation with everyday life and work, in an environment where the cost of living has become a major problem,” underlined the Prime Minister.
“I believe there is a general understanding that this change of page has come to stay. My job is to ensure that the changes we have implemented are irreversible. This is my commitment to the investment community and, honestly, the main reason why I want to seek a third term. To ensure that what we have achieved will continue and that the wealth we create for the country will be preserved. My first commitment in 2023 was to increase wages. When I see unemployment falling from 18% to 8%, this means that real wages are increasing, noted Kyriakos Mitsotakis. “This is the only way to truly distribute wealth,” he added.
Referring to the importance of reliable and costed fiscal policy, the Prime Minister noted: “The fundamental principle of our approach has always been not to question the pursuit of fiscal and macroeconomic stability. The crisis of 2009-2010 was a consequence of spending derailment and our failure to focus on fundamental restructuring of our economy. We will not repeat the same mistake, ever. For this reason, our commitment to producing primary surpluses, and whenever possible, fiscal surpluses, will not be questioned“.
“The biggest reform was our ability to tackle tax evasion”
In this context, Kyriakos Mitsotakis emphasized that the benefits from combating tax evasion are returned to citizens through systematic tax reduction, with emphasis on middle incomes, young people and families with children.
“The biggest reform that contributed to the state budget was our ability to tackle the problem of tax evasion. This brought a lot of money to public coffers, which we must now return to citizens. So, we reduced taxes for the middle class. We reduced taxes for families with children. We eliminated income tax for those under 25 years old. I want to encourage young people to enter the workforce, I don’t want them to wait for years. I respect young kids who go to technical school and enter the job market at age 20. I want them to know that we think of them,” he said characteristically.
During the discussion about the future of European defense, given today’s geopolitical landscape, the Prime Minister stated: “We will need to mobilize not only private, but also public capital. We will need to mobilize European public resources for defense. I have been clear on this issue, I have spoken about it on many occasions. The recent invasion of Russian drones into Polish airspace brought to the forefront something we already know constitutes a major problem concerning anti-missile defense and air defense systems in Europe. Therefore, my proposal is very clear: A pan-European tool for something I consider a pan-European good. And defense is the supreme European public good.
We cannot allow our national priorities to become an obstacle to addressing what is essentially an existential threat to Europe. Can this happen? The answer is that I see much greater momentum. Some of the traditionally “frugal” countries, like Denmark and Finland, are much more open to the idea of common European borrowing for defense“.
On the green transition
Kyriakos Mitsotakis also addressed the issue of green transition and energy. “Greece has achieved exceptional success in adding renewable energy sources, both solar and wind, to our energy mix. We produce more than 50% of our electricity from renewable sources. Especially in spring or autumn we have the ability for all our electricity generation to come from renewable sources for hours. For the first time this summer, we also observed greater price convergence between Western, Central Europe and Southeastern Europe,” emphasized the Prime Minister.
“We need more interconnections. We have become net exporters of electricity. This has never happened in the past. But, of course, we will need additional investments in baseload –in Greece’s case we’re talking about natural gas– and of course investments for storage. This is our plan regarding how we intend to proceed with the green transition in a realistic way, while also taking into account that renewable energy sources constitute a significant competitive advantage for us,” he added.
