Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told a cabinet meeting on August 24, 2026, that Athens will present its economic policy for 2027 and a broader "roadmap" for the country through 2030 at the Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF), while making clear that Turkish reactions to Greek regional planning decisions will not alter the government's course.
The Thessaloniki International Fair, held in the northern port city of Thessaloniki, is Greece's largest trade exhibition and traditionally the venue where the prime minister sets out the government's economic priorities for the coming year.
Message to Turkey
Addressing Turkish objections to Greece's Special Spatial Planning Frameworks for renewable energy and tourism, Mitsotakis said reactions coming from the east that follow Greek actions do not affect Greek planning. He said areas of Greek sovereignty derive from international law and that Greece is ready to defend them at any moment.
He repeated Greece's longstanding position on the scope of dialogue with Turkey, saying Athens wants good relations with its neighbours but does not discuss anything beyond the delimitation of the continental shelf and the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean.
TIF with a horizon to 2030
Mitsotakis said the fair would be the starting point for the next phase of government strategy, telling ministers that Thessaloniki would host the presentation of both the 2027 economic policy axes and the country's roadmap to 2030.
The government treats 2030 as a symbolic and political milestone, since it will mark 200 years since the founding of the modern Greek state. Mitsotakis said the goal was for the anniversary to find Greece "stronger and more productive and more ready to face the challenges of a particularly turbulent era."
Recovery Fund wraps up August 31
Mitsotakis highlighted the completion of Greece's Recovery and Resilience Fund programme on August 31. He recalled that in July 2020 Greece secured what he called the largest package as a share of GDP in the European Union, worth a total of 36 billion euros in loans and grants.
Reviewing how the funds were used, he pointed to the digitisation of the public sector, completion of the national land registry, interventions in the energy market and renewable energy, electric buses, the Thessaloniki Metro, and the extension toward Kalamaria due to be inaugurated on Thursday, as well as a preventive health screening programme.
Of 136 reform milestones tied to the recovery programme, only two remain to be completed, according to material presented to the cabinet. Mitsotakis also said that in 2028 Greece will be the first country to receive the new Canadair CL-515 firefighting aircraft.
In his introductory remarks to the cabinet, Mitsotakis said the process of submitting the final disbursement request under the Recovery Fund would be formally completed on August 31, calling it the culmination of a journey that began at a marathon European Council summit in July 2020. He said Greek GDP had grown faster than the European Union average as a result of the funds, and that investment as a share of GDP had risen even as it fell in many other European countries.
He also cited the completion of the Egnatia-linked E65 motorway, the start of works on the Northern Road Axis, and the use of Recovery Fund resources to repair damage from Storm Daniel. He said more than 80 hospitals were having emergency departments rebuilt from scratch, alongside work at 156 health centres, adding that the funding had begun changing the culture of public healthcare, a push he said would continue with national funds once EU money runs out.
Mitsotakis said the reforms behind the milestones amounted to 811 regulatory and legislative acts, including 66 laws and 153 ministerial decisions. He also paid tribute to firefighters, noting that five firefighters and four citizens had died this summer during a season of high temperatures and unusually strong meltemi winds, while saying that burned areas so far were significantly below the average of the last 20 years, with a full assessment to come once the fire season ends.
"Greece will soon not be Europe's most indebted country"
Mitsotakis also addressed the reduction of public debt, framing it as a choice made with the next generation in mind. He said it was an important legacy of the government to relieve the new generation of burdens carried by previous ones, adding that for the first time a government was steadily reducing debt at such a pace that Greece would very soon no longer be the most indebted country in Europe.
He took a swipe at the opposition, saying he was astonished at what he called the irresponsibility of some who reduce a major national success to a matter of petty party competition, at a time when Greece borrows more cheaply than countries such as France and Italy.
In his opening remarks, Mitsotakis noted turmoil in global bond markets and said US debt had surpassed 40 trillion dollars, adding that Greece had lived through a debt crisis before and that his government would not allow the country to be caught in a weaker fiscal position again should such turmoil spread.
Inflation and prices
Mitsotakis called inflation the biggest issue affecting Greek society and families, noting that prices for staple foods such as oil, fruit and vegetables were lower this month compared with the previous month.
He said the next step comes on September 1, when the National Price Reduction Agreement takes effect, and that initiatives from the market itself were also expected specifically for school supplies, as family budgets enter the difficult back-to-school period.
Education and schools
Mitsotakis said the education minister would brief the cabinet on preparations for the new school year, including more than 5,000 new permanent teaching appointments, one in four of them in special education, and 30,000 substitute teachers who he hoped would start classes from the first school bell, with a faster process to fill vacancies and special provisions for housing.
He said teachers and other public employees serving in remote and border areas would receive a payment in November equal to two months' rent allowance. He said 238 schools had been renovated this summer under the "Marietta Giannakou" programme, with new schools also being delivered in Thessaloniki, Katerini, Rhodes and Chania, along with new interactive whiteboards. Eight new Onassis Schools are opening in Aigaleo, Rhodes, Heraklion and Pyrgos, and for the first time eight model and experimental schools in Athens, Thessaloniki and Crete will offer the International Baccalaureate programme.
He also cited the success of a free digital tutoring platform, saying more than 400,000 students had used it across more than 45 subjects, with live classes now also available for the first and second years of senior high school.
Spatial planning frameworks
Mitsotakis said the cabinet would also hear from the environment minister on special spatial planning frameworks covering renewable energy, tourism and industry, which he described as completing an important part of the national spatial planning puzzle.
He said the frameworks impose measured limits on renewable energy development, with solar power capped at 1.5% of the land area of each regional unit, and wind farms effectively excluded from the Attica region, Thessaloniki and practically all small and medium-sized islands.
He said renewable energy was a major reason electricity prices in Greece were significantly lower in August than in many other European countries, noting that the strong winds that pose problems for firefighting also bring benefits for energy prices. He said the government had struck a balance between renewable energy development, environmental protection and potential conflicts with other economic activities.
Returning to relations with Turkey, Mitsotakis repeated that reactions from the east following Greek actions do not affect Greek planning, that areas of Greek sovereignty are not in question, and that Greece is ready to defend them at any moment. He said Greece wants good neighbourly relations with Turkey but, as the foreign minister had also said in an interview the day before, discusses nothing with Turkey beyond the delimitation of the continental shelf and the Exclusive Economic Zone in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean.
