Debate on Greece’s 2025 State Budget to Begin Friday

The debate on the 2025 Greek budget will begin Friday, with a battle set to play out on the parliament floor between Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and opposition leader Nikos Androulakis. The debate will conclude on Sunday with a vote.

Ruling New Democracy has proposed the budget, presenting it as a set of measures that will improve Greece’s economy through “fiscal prudence”.

In a video on social media, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis lauded the budget as a “socially focused plan” that would strengthen Greece’s economy.

The plan includes €1.1 billion in additional permanent measures compared to 2024, focusing on salary increases, tax cuts, and public debt reduction.

With regards to the country’s public debt, Mistotakis stated that in December, Greece would complete an early repayment of 7.9 billion euros in loans from the first bailout and plans to repay an additional 5 billion euros in loans due between 2033 and 2042 by 2025, bringing the debt-to-GDP ratio down to 147.5%, its lowest since 2010.

The prime minister argued that additional funds from enhanced tax revenues and crackdowns on tax evasion will support infrastructure, health, and education. The budget is set to include pension increases, increase in the compensation of public healthcare doctors working on-call, increase in compensation for night work of uniformed personnel, and increased pay for public servants.

However, opposition to the budget has been strident. “The 2025 budget is a budget of half-truths and the absence of perspective for workers, the middle classes and the most vulnerable. Half-truths, because the Minister of Economy and Finance boasts that ‘with lower taxes, we have more revenue,’” stated PASOK in November when the budget was first released. 

The party argues that the budget contains taxation inequities, and not enough tax relief for workers whose salaries have been eroded over years of austerity and inflation.

It is expected that PASOK as well as SYRIZA will all vote against the budget, however New Democracy’s majority is such that the bill will pass regardless.