Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis needs to explain where he plans to find 1.8 billion euros to implement the measures he has announced for 2020, former SYRIZA finance minister Euclid Tsakalotos said on Sunday, adding that there is no fiscal space in 2020 to do so.
"Have you calculated the fiscal space for 2020? Because we're saying it doesn't exist," Tsakalotos said, accusing the government of "trying to square the circle." On how the New Democracy government planned to find the funds for the measures, he asked, "Will you expand the tax base? Will you reduce the tax-free amount? Or will you collect 1.8 billion from tax evaders?"
Tsakalotos accused the government of planning to introduce more austerity, "as part of your plan and your mentality," and said that the middle class would not get to see any benefits. Poverty isn't dropping and development isn't rising, and it is "a very complicated issue that needs specific and target measures," he said.