The prime minister announced the start of a long election campaign, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, at the meeting of the New Democracy Political Committee, with its new membership as determined by the 14th National Convention.
«Keep your heads down, but keep your spirits high,» he advised New Democracy officials, asking them to “give it their all” over the next 12 months until the end of the four-year term, so that—as he emphasized during the first round of voting—the “yes” vote would be the best possible outcome.
He outlined the government's plans for this period and focused in particular on the new measures regarding electricity prices, as well as on the reduction of ENFIA.
Mr. Mitsotakis acknowledged that even with the new measures, electricity will be more expensive than in 2020, but noted that it will remain at tolerable, manageable levels. He also emphasized that anyone who promises citizens that electricity prices could return to last year’s levels is lying.
He also emphasized that under the new ENFIA, which was posted yesterday on the AADE website, Eight out of ten citizens will pay less and commented that this, too, is an indirect way to increase income at a time when Inflation is soaring across Europe.
The prime minister specifically acknowledged that the measures taken regarding electricity in recent months covered households with low consumption, but did not cover households with average consumption—which might have been using air conditioners for heating—nor did they address the unjustified increases in private electricity prices.
“We had the courage to say that this needs to be corrected, and we are correcting it,” Mr. Mitsotakis emphasized, referring to the new package of measures, which, among other things, will return to citizens the 60% of the increase they were charged due to the adjustment clause.
He also responded to criticism that even these measures are insufficient to address high energy prices, noting that “The measures we took to support citizens regarding fuel prices were well-received by the public. The opposition claimed these were mere crumbs that didn’t matter to anyone. 76% of those eligible for the fuel subsidy have logged into the relevant platform and are receiving their share of the funds.”.
He also stated that: “Starting in July, we will be able to implement the new electricity pricing plan. It will permanently decouple prices from natural gas price increases, and while we’ll be able to stabilize them at levels higher than the prices we paid in 2020, but they will be tolerable; they will be manageable.”.
The prime minister also noted that “the ENFIA tax assessments have been posted, and citizens have found that eight out of 10 will pay less ENFIA this year. This is 380 million euros lower than last year and one billion euros less than in 2019.”
He even noted that «this, too, is a boost to income at a time when all of Europe is called upon to battle the specter of inflation. This inflation is imported and is largely related to the sharp rise in natural gas prices.»
Mr. Mitsotakis prepared New Democracy officials for a “tough battle” with SYRIZA in the coming months. He even noted that Alexis Tsipras, addressing a woman during his tour of Thessaloniki, told her, «You’ll say »SYRIZA« and you’ll cry.» Mr. Mitsotakis commented specifically: “Indeed, pensioners were crying outside ATMs in 2015. We thank Mr. Tsipras, who reminds us at every opportunity of the worst government the country has had since the Restoration of Democracy.”.
Although the prime minister denies the possibility of early elections at every opportunity, he stated that «we are constantly on party alert,» since, as he noted, 12 months is not a very long time. He therefore called on everyone—and especially party officials—to “give it their all” so that New Democracy can achieve the best possible result in the first round of voting under the proportional representation system. «Keep your heads down, but your spirits high. That’s what the country needs,» said Mr. Mitsotakis, announcing that teams of ministers, members of parliament, and party officials will begin tours to inform the public about the government’s work.
