Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Wednesday said Athens was looking at allocating 1.76 billion euros ($2 billion) in 2026, along with tax relief measures, to tackle demographic issues.
Greece has one of the European Union’s lowest birthrates, calculated by births per 1,000 inhabitants, standing at 7.3 — above only Spain with 6.9 and Italy in last place with 6.7.
Mitsotakis, speaking at a symposium organised by the rightwing daily Eleftheros Typos, stressed the importance of protecting families and highlighted the government’s tax reforms benefitting families with children.
“For the first time in our country, we have a comprehensive strategy on demographic issues,” he said. “The more children there are, the lower the taxes.”
Demographic issues are not exclusively economic, the premier said, citing “other reasons that we need to analyse much more deeply if we want to solve” them.
Asked about using migrants and refugees to address labour market and demographic issues, Mitsotakis defended his government’s “strict” migration policy.
“We will do everything in our power to prevent anyone from entering our country illegally,” he said. But Greece had nothing to fear from migrants who arrived regularly, could respond to employment needs and integrate into Greek society, he added.
He noted that Greece has recently received a limited number of Sudanese refugees who are set to work in agriculture.
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© Agence France-Presse
