The draft of the state budget for 2026 was introduced for discussion at the Parliament’s Standing Committee on Economic Affairs, with the debate opening with an intervention by Minister of National Economy and Finance Kyriakos Pierrakakis. According to Mr. Pierrakakis, the government is guiding the country with safety and prudence amid international challenges despite the crises, as our position, he said, shows continuous improvement, finding the golden mean between fiscal stability and growth. Regarding growth rates, Greece for 2025, for the 6th year, will have a high growth rate that will move from 2.2% in 2025 to 2.4% in 2026, while – as he said – projections speak of more than double the growth rate compared to the eurozone. Domestic inflation, he added, is expected to decline from 2.6% in 2025 to 2.2% in 2026.
Kyriakos Pierrakakis: “We should agree on the basics”
Asked to refer to the measures announced by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at the Thessaloniki International Fair and wanting to respond to opposition criticism, the Minister of National Economy spoke of clearly increased capabilities to support society through the structural reform of income taxation. At the same time, he added that the programs of PASOK and SYRIZA lead to overtaxation. “Nikos Androulakis added measures worth 4 billion at TIF. SYRIZA’s program costs a total of 45.8 billion over the four-year period. The first year costs 15.1 billion. We are allocating 1.6 billion. Tell us where you will find them, since the last time SYRIZA governed, it took them from the overtaxation of the middle class!” Kyriakos Pierrakakis noted characteristically. Indeed, he turned his fire on SYRIZA’s Economy spokesperson Nikos Pappas, saying that questioning ELSTAT and Eurostat data is “completely misguided.” “We should agree on the basics,” the Minister of National Economy and Finance noted meaningfully and emphasized the need for political consensus on fundamentals. “I don’t claim that Greece is an economic paradise, but it’s not hell. We receive congratulations from our partners. The maximum that can be done based on the country’s fiscal capabilities is being done with the budget draft,” Kyriakos Pierrakakis further argued. He also emphasized that both growth and the reduction of public debt will light an additional “green light” for investment inflows into the country.
At the same time, Kyriakos Pierrakakis also focused on what appears to be the end of the war in Gaza, speaking of the first possible light in the darkness of the two-year war, expressing hope that this will be lasting. According to Mr. Pierrakakis, this is a positive development, as he said it removes the dimension of geopolitical instability, which inevitably forms part of economic calculations. However, he didn’t fail to mention that uncertainty remains, given that Europe finds itself in an environment of geopolitical instability and strengthening of extremes. On the other hand, the opposition as a whole spoke of a socially unjust budget. “The only plan you have is that of fiscal stability, as if it’s a substitute for growth. You call us miserable because we point out things. We don’t want to become Cassandras about the growth rate, but we are skeptical about the 2.4%,” Paris Koukoulopoulos, MP for Kozani, noted characteristically, who denounced that the dividend produced has two “black” holes, as on one hand it’s less than the capabilities and on the other it’s distributed unfairly.
According to SYRIZA’s Nikos Pappas, the 2026 budget will repeat surpluses much higher than agreed, while on behalf of KKE, Nikos Karathanassopoulos spoke of new “tax robbery” coming due to the increase in indirect taxes. “You don’t have consensus. You may be first, but you create instability,” Euclid Tsakalotos said on behalf of New Left. Finally, on behalf of the majority, Dimitris Markopoulos, who will also be the General Rapporteur on the state budget, spoke of a Greece that is stable in an unstable Europe, noting that the budget addresses modern national needs.
