Alexandra Sdouko, press spokesperson for Greece's New Democracy party, said opposition leader Nikos Androulakis must explain how he intends to get around European Union rules on calculating a 13th pension payment, in an interview with ERT News on September 12, 2026.
Sdouko focused on what she described as the costed and workable nature of the government's economic measures announced at the Thessaloniki International Fair, contrasting them with PASOK's pledges, which she said conflict with European rules.
Asked about the opposition's announcements, Sdouko said the public would also hear what Androulakis had to say, giving citizens the chance to judge and compare the parties' programmes. She noted that people had already heard from the prime minister, earlier from Alexis Tsipras, and in between a speech by Androulakis in Heraklion. She said that if PASOK itself was saying Tsipras's party had copied 80% of its programme, then expectations should be kept modest. She added that she wanted to hear realistic proposals, but the signs so far were not positive.
Cost of a 13th pension
Sdouko said Androulakis needed to explain how he would bypass European rules on calculating a 13th pension, a measure she said would cost 2.5 billion euros, on top of 1.5 billion euros for a 13th salary for public employees. She said these figures could not be disputed.
She said that if Androulakis wanted to take the 2.2 billion euros the prime minister had allocated and give it all to one social group instead, he should say so directly. She added that he could not claim to have a magic wand that would deliver a 13th pension, a 13th salary, a cut in VAT on products, which she said would also cost billions, the EKAS pensioner benefit and much more besides, saying the sums simply did not add up.
Criticism of Tsipras's figures
Sdouko also referred to Tsipras, who she said had told the Thessaloniki fair that his measures would cost 7.5 billion euros over four years, through 2030. She said his party's economic affairs coordinator had then contradicted him the following day, saying the figure meant 7.5 billion euros per year rather than over four years. She questioned what credibility such contradictions carried, comparing it to earlier confusion over a proposed "patriotic levy," when the public was reportedly told one day that jewellery would be taxed and the next day that it would not. She asked what people were supposed to believe amid such reversals.
Government's growth record
Sdouko said New Democracy was not satisfied with sound management alone but aimed for continuous GDP growth, or "growing the pie." She said the government's goal was more investment and greater growth every year, adding that in the years before the crisis, growth had relied not on investment but on borrowing, which led to the bailout memorandums, spending cuts and tax rises.
She said growth today rested on a healthier productive base. According to Sdouko, Greece's GDP stood at 185 billion euros in 2019 and has since reached 250 billion euros, with the prime minister saying at the Thessaloniki fair that the target for 2030 was to exceed 310 billion euros. She said investment stood at 22 billion euros in 2019 and is now 46 billion euros, with a goal of surpassing 60 billion euros. She said the minimum wage, which was 650 euros when the government took office, has risen to 950 euros, with a target of 1,000 euros, and that this record had built a reserve of public trust.
Public reaction to Thessaloniki speech
Asked about the reception of the prime minister's Thessaloniki speech, Sdouko said nearly 45% of citizens considered the measures properly costed and workable, with more people than last year saying the country was heading in the right direction. She said these figures were higher than New Democracy's current standing in opinion polls, which she took to mean there were citizens and social groups listening who could still be persuaded to back the government's plan for the country, which she said would eventually translate into a mandate for single-party government.
International risks
Sdouko said Greece was in a phase of navel-gazing, or what she called a protected bubble, where political argument focused only on how to distribute the budget surplus between different social groups, or whether to spend money the country did not have, as she said the opposition proposed, without regard for the international environment.
She pointed to developments in just the past week, including Houthi forces approaching the strait through which ships travel from Asia and the Middle East to Europe via the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, alongside oil prices, European Central Bank interest rates and the Strait of Hormuz, all of which she said were directly affecting the economy. She said Greece was not insulated from these developments and that every measure taken had to be considered against what was happening globally.
Winter heating oil prices
Asked about the outlook for oil prices, particularly heating oil ahead of winter, Sdouko said there was a clear precedent based on how the prime minister had acted during previous emergencies. She said that in February last year, when the Hormuz crisis began, the prime minister and the economic team introduced successive support packages totalling around 800 million euros. She said the same approach was taken during the major energy crisis following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, when energy prices surged and households and businesses received support worth almost 10 billion euros. She said this record meant that, if needed, appropriate action would be taken again.
