Speaking from the Parliament podium, Greece’s Finance Minister Gikas Hardouvelis voiced his support for the latest government omnibus draft bill, saying the worst is over.
As Hardouvelis says, the closer Greece gets towards the end of its economic adjustment program, its reforms assume an ever greater structural – rather than fiscal – role. “In short, we have gone through most of the fiscal beating,” commented Hardouvelis, to immediately warn that “we’re not over yet. The path of reforms does not end with the adjustment program.”
The Greek Finance Minister supports that growth and the subsequent rise in employment rates is not a project to concern the government only. “It is an affair of the Parliament, of civil society, as well as of every single businessman, professional, worker. Of every citizen. Growth is a wager for the Greeks altogether,” Hardouvelis notes.
He also comments on the provisions of the omnibus draft bill, making a special note on the tax office’s new authority to suspend or even deactivate the tax registry number (AFM) of a business owner – something that will not allow them to perform any business transaction whatsoever – a harsh administrative measure to be implemented only under three specific conditions: That the taxpayer has either suspended his business activity, that he has evaded taxes or that he has submitted false or inaccurate data when applying for their tax registry number.
The minister clarifies that this measure will not affect taxpayers who owe taxes to the State but have not committed tax evasion.
Hardouvelis is optimistic that the reinforcement of the crucial Public Revenue General Secretariat with 400 additional permanent employees of higher education training will safeguard and enhance the effectiveness of the tax auditing services.
He also says that the banks will be prohibited from charging their customers for processing applications in loan relief negotiations.
Hardouvelis also argues that the country needs to focus on ways to make its economy more export-oriented. “We are leaving the six years of recession, unemployment, lower incomes, pain and anger behind,” says the recently appointed minister, who adds that Greece cannot go back to having a consumption-driven economy. “The challenge we face is to envision a future that is different from our recent past.”
Hardouvelis reveals that the coalition government is working on a scheme aimed to help certain sectors of the economy to grow. These include tourism, agricultural production, energy, logistics, shipping, pharmaceuticals, metals and construction materials, business services, and research.
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