Return of Special Consumption Tax to farmers to continue in 2024, Mitsotakis announces

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Addressing Parliament on Friday, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis appealed to the opposition parties to work toward “some common positions and agreements based on the real facts,” with the government, regarding what needs to be done to restore flood-stricken Thessaly.

Mitsotakis was speaking during Prime Minister’s Question Time, replying to a question tabled by ‘Nea Aristera’ parliamentary group leader Alexis Charitsis on the restitution of the victims of flooding in Thessaly as a result of Storm Daniel.

The prime minister also announced that the return to farmers of the Special Consumption Tax for diesel will be extended in 2024: “In consultation with the finance ministry and as our economy is doing well, the return of the special consumption tax for diesel will be extended into 2024; another 82 million euros, in other words.”

Addressing the political parties, Mitsotakis said:

“I choose joint effectiveness over party aims. I choose rapprochement over tension. This is how I operated during the last session we had on the issue of Thessaly in November but also every time I expressed positions on this issue.” He also noted that Thessaly’s rebirth exceeds the limits of the government.

“It demands realism and planning, it requires coordination of the state and local authorities of the second and first degree. Chiefly, however, it demands funds, it demands time and conscientiousness,” he said.

Noting that there were many obstacles and that compensation to farmers could reach as much as one billion euros, Mitsotakis said the government had acted more quickly than any time previously in the history of the Greek State to distribute initial assistance to households, farmers and businesses, in addition to advances on compensation due to businesses and farmers.

He said the government’s priority was to support Thessaly’s resident to rebuild their lives as quickly as possible and restore infrastructure destroyed by the floods, including schools, which he promised would be fully restored with donations from Greek shipowners and “reopen in September better than they were before Storm Daniel.”

Additional discount on electricity, debt settlement and 750 million euros from OPEKEPE

Outlining other support measures, the prime minister announced that the Public Power Corporation (PPC) will offer an additional discount of 10 pct for farm electricity between May and September, the months with the highest demand.
He also referred to settlements of outstanding debts: “In consultation with the ministries responsible, there will be a settlement of the debts of local and general land improvement organisations (GOEB and TOEB) amounting to 87 million euros. In Thessaly, in fact, the state will undertake 75% of these debts, while in the rest of the country these debts will be settled with a 10-year interest-free repayment.”
Mitsotakis also noted that the government has shown its interest in farmers and livestock breeders in every way, including the commitment made on Thursday by the minister regarding funds payable under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), by the Greek Payment Authority of CAP Aid Schemes (OPEKEPE). “In April, OPEKEPE will pay the entire amount of the subsidies that farmers are eligible for, meaning that farming income will be boosted with 750 million euros in hard cash,” he said.

PM: We paid 1.1 billion euros in agricultural compensation

“We gave 1.1 billion in agricultural compensation and of this, half comes from farmers contributions and the other half from the shortfall of the citizens,” Mitsotakis said regarding the action taken by the government to support farmers. “We are able to provide serious support for the primary sector because the economy is generating sustainable primary surpluses,” he added.
He called on MPs to keep in mind three conclusions: that the country had faced an unprecedented natural disaster that demanded faster action by the state than was customary; that more permanent solutions regarding natural threats had been set in motion; and thirdly, that this was an effort on multiple levels that required time and constant monitoring. While the government could have done better, he said, the extent and complexity of the actions taken at many different points should not be underestimated.
The prime minister also announced plans to subsidise the construction of solar energy parks with batteries, which will be offered in the form of bilateral, long-term contracts for providing electricity, as a means of ensuring that farmers in cooperatives and those in contract agriculture will have a medium-term reduction of electricity costs of at least 30 pct for a decade. For individual farmers, he said the programme “Photovoltaics in the Field” will start immediately.

 
 Source: ΑΝΑ-ΜPA

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