Akis Skertsos: Near 700,000 closed properties – No tooling on the issue of the new President of the Republic

On the housing issue, the issue of the President of the Republic and also on him was spoken by the Minister of State, Akis Skertsos speaking to ERT initially stressed for the former Prime Minister that “Kostas Simitis left a strong footprint. He’s an iconic personality of the post-civilization. He tied Greece even more firmly to the European chariot.” CORVERSE He also said that there were mistakes and that what he must preside over is respect for the dead and to see more soberly what he did and what he did not do. “There is pending in terms of the country’s modernisation. On this road moves the Mitsotakis government, convergence with Europe,” he added. For the presidential election the Minister of State said the time is coming for the Prime Minister to open his papers. “No tooling fits. The President of the Republic must unite citizens,” he stressed. Asked about private health contracts, Mr. Skertsos said that the fight to support income is constant on many fronts. CORVERSE He referred to the picture of food inflation and especially about health premiums he said we are talking about a subclass of insured persons who have long-term long-term contracts and are estimated to be around 250,000. Mr. Skertsos said that announcements will be made by Mr. Theodorikos and in any case the government has priority over improving competition. “The interventions that will be made will have a direct effect for 2025 as well as other interventions that we have done in the banking sector. They will be specific, aim to improve competition without endangering the capital adequacy of insurance companies. Anyone who talks about a framework puts the Greek market outside the European framework,” he noted. “PASOK may ask some questions or raise issues but the solutions it proposes are inapplicable and unfortunately follows Syriza’s tradition,” he added after a relevant question. For housing he said the closed properties are close to 700,000 and there is a large plan in progress to open. He noted that policies should be implemented that enable them to renovate their properties to be allocated to long-term leases while also talking about the possibilities given to those converting the properties they lease from short-term lease to long-term leases. “It is a package of measures that touches half a million citizens,” he said and estimated that at least 100,000 of the 700,000 properties will open within the next two years. He also referred to the institution of the social contribution with the aim in the first phase to exploit 300 public properties throughout the country. For tomorrow’s cabinet meeting and the action plan for 2025 Mr. Skertsos said it includes 460 flagship political objectives. “Greece has filed five requests, has disbursed resources for 4 of them and is among the first five countries in Europe in the disbursement and absorption of resources from the Recovery Fund,” he said at another point in the interview. “What the Court of Auditors says about Greece applies to a greater extent to other countries,” he added. On the measure of the ban on alcohol for minors when anti-smoking law is not sufficiently respected, Mr. Skertsos said it is a constant battle and especially for anti-smoking law he said that until 12.00 p.m. it applies. “As to alcohol we need a change in the way we regulate and supervise the ban. We will transfer responsibility to the Greek Police and there will be more stringent penalties for stores that will even reach closure. We will also give control to the shopkeeper,” he noted. At another point in the interview the Minister of State referred to health referred to health aid decisions with a significant increase in resources over 2019. “We give great weight to the NIS. It is also the support of citizens to reduce spending on private health services. It is support for the most vulnerable and on the basis of the OECD it has begun to reduce private spending in Greece,” he added. For farmers he said the best tax and the best billing for agricultural current was satisfied. “We are in a better place than we were a year ago. And here we have to do more. We succeeded in having a trade surplus. Greece must be an international export economy,” he noted. For the possibility of reshuffle after the presidential election he replied that “these are questions you will ask to the Prime Minister, I cannot answer that.”