<The reductions of shelf prices at food stores will initially be applied to 120 items, while supermarkets have committed to raising the number to 600 items, government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis told Talk Radio 989 on Tuesday.
Speaking to the radio station, Marinakis also said that the 'imported and persistent high prices' seem to be dropping gradually, "but it takes a lot of months still to counterbalance the many months we had accumulated inflation, especially in foods." In relation to the high cost of living, he added that the government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis "has reduced, has abolished, in his first term 50 tax rates and in the second one, just in Thessaloniki International Fair alone, he announced another 12 tax breaks." This is part of the government's consistent policy, along with raising salaries and other measures, to increase even indirectly citizens' incomes and to relieve businesses and households.
The government understands the despair of citizens because while wages rise, so does the cost of living. But its aim every year is that "the rise in incomes is greater than the rise in prices," the spokesman said.
Referring to polls that show PASOK comes in second in preference among parties, Marinakis noted that the government has planned a series of legislative initiatives "which we hope that the opposition, especially the second party in terms of polling - that is, PASOK - does not deal with nihilistically and unjustifyingly negatively." He cited as example the Interior Ministry's bill, currently in Parliament, which upgrades the procedures of the state testing and hiring service ASEP.
Speaking of Greek-Turkish talks, Marinakis noted that "dialog does not mean agreement - and in any case, does not mean naivete." As he said, "We are neither naive, nor do we believe that this dialog will de facto lead to resolving the only difference we accept we have with Turkiye - and it is the only one, which we want to and will allow to be discussed on the basis of International Law - that is, the delimitation of the EEZ and the continental shelf."
He also underlined that "there is no tangible element leading to the conclusion that, during this time of dialog and overall during the years Kyriakos Mitsotakis has been prime minister of Greece, the country has been harmed even in the least."