Greek Deputy Prime Minister Kostis Hatzidakis announced new interventions to reduce the cost of raising children and to ease access to housing, speaking a day before Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis addresses the Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF).
Hatzidakis was speaking at the "Redefining Growth in Southeastern Europe" conference organized by the newspaper Imerisia. He said the government's priorities for the coming period would center on cutting the cost of raising children, as part of a national strategy on the country's demographic decline, and on making it easier for young couples to buy a first home.
Hatzidakis said the plans also include new social housing built on public land, the renovation of vacant properties, and special housing measures for frontline workers.
Prime minister to unveil measures on Friday
Hatzidakis said Mitsotakis would announce on Friday a package of measures to address the effects of high prices and to support small and medium-sized businesses, self-employed professionals, pensioners and families with children.
He said the prime minister would announce a set of interventions in this direction to address the consequences of high prices, strengthen small and medium-sized enterprises and the self-employed, and support pensioners and families with children.
The Thessaloniki International Fair is Greece's largest trade exhibition and has traditionally served as the venue where the sitting prime minister sets out the government's economic policy for the year ahead.
Demographic strategy
Hatzidakis gave particular weight to the country's demographic challenge, announcing a national strategy for demographic renewal built around two specific directions: lowering the cost of raising a child and achieving a better balance between family and working life.
He said the government's program would include a national strategy for demographic renewal with an emphasis on reducing the cost of raising a child and improving the balance between family and professional life.
Greece has one of the lowest birth rates in the European Union, and successive governments have identified the shrinking and ageing population as a long-term economic and social risk.
Housing plans for young couples
The second major pillar Hatzidakis described concerns affordable housing, covering a set of interventions ranging from first-home purchases to the use of public property.
He said the plans specifically include making it easier for young couples to acquire a first home, using public property to create new social housing units, and renovating vacant properties so they can return to the housing market.
Hatzidakis also made separate mention of special measures for housing frontline workers, adding another group to those the new housing policies will target.
