Prime Minister George Papandreou on Wednesday assured that there will be no further burden placed on salary and pension earners or an increase in tax rates. He made these statements while addressing an event for young entrepreneurs organised by the Regional Development and Competitiveness Ministry on Wednesday.
Greece he said, was at a turning point. “We are making the largest reduction of the deficit ever done in the country, and have unprecedented results,” stressing that “this should give us self-confidence that we can achieve the targets we set”.
In a greeting to the event between young innovative entrepreneurs and Regional Development and Competitiveness Minister Michalis Chryssohoidis, Papandreou said that his government will abide by its commitments and there will be no new increase in tax rates or burdens on salary and pension earners.
Papandreou said that everyone inside and outside Greece must realise that the Greeks have made “unprecedented sacrifices”, stressing that: “through the enhancement of the taxation system, which is a fundamental target of the government, a reduction of taxes will be achieved”. He added that: “the clientele state, with its parasitic and its state-dependent economy of wasteful spending will cease to exist”.
“We are moving to a change of the production model, and this vision needs to be adopted by the (productive) forces of the country themselves,” he said, adding that the “young innovative entrepreneurs are the spearhead for investment in knowledge and the human factor”.
The Premier also said that incentives will be given so that the youth will not leave the country but stay and innovate” in Greece, and expressed his “deep conviction” that, albeit much work is necessary, “we can change the state”.
Addressing the meeting, Chryssohoidis said the aim is for government and entrepreneurs is “to speak the same language”, warning that there was no room for further delay. “We are seeking ways to fill the confidence deficit existing between the state and entrepreneurship,” he said.
“We live in a Greece of ‘bubbles’ and consumption that bursts over you and creates obstacles to growth and extroversion,” the minister said, noting that those who are trying to build their own business today shoulder a large risk, resulting in a trend of leaving the country and marginalization in the young generation.
The Ministry’s goal is for the proposals by the young entrepreneurs to comprise developmental incentives and to achieve easy and quick access to financing tools.
He added that an internet platform will be created in the coming months with innovative ideas from all over the country. Actions will be advanced via the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) and the new development law.
Main opposition New Democracy spokesman Panos Panagiotopoulos, commenting on the Prime Minister’s statements to young entrepreneurs stated that: “the government’s policy is identified with closed businesses, the drying out of the market and economic suffocation”.
As an assurance that salaries and pensions will not be affected, Panagiotopoulos stated that the messages received show that “more cruel measures are on the way after the local government elections” next month.
(source: ana-mpa)
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