Government vice president, Theodoros Pangalos has stated that he disagreed with the exemption of the Church of Greece from taxation. Pangalos also stated that this was not the best time for the sale of the Public Power Corporation.
In an interview titled “All the Greeks Must Change, Including the Church”, Pangalos discussed recent negotiations with the EU-IMF Troika, explaining that there was a delay on Greece’s side.
“The recession in Greece was deeper than projected”, Pangalos said, adding that there are also “political obstacles” to putting an end to the clientele relations which, he added, have inflated the number of personnel in the public sector.
As the new measures are concerned, the unemployed and disabled in Greece will be taxed whereas “the Orthodox Church will not pay”, Pangalos stated, “The Church demands its financial autonomy and manages a substantial inheritance. It would be natural that it pays, like the others”.
The Church has said that it has no objections to paying an extraordinary surtax on real estate assets for its assets that are commercially exploited.
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