{"id":2431,"date":"2026-04-24T17:54:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T14:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/?p=2431"},"modified":"2026-04-24T17:54:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T14:54:00","slug":"thanasis-kontogeorgis-our-country-has-taken-steps-it-has-acquired-a-different-national-self-confidence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/?p=2431","title":{"rendered":"Thanasis Kontogeorgis: Our country has taken steps, it has acquired a different national self-confidence"},"content":{"rendered":"

The national challenges<\/strong> in today’s European<\/b>, and wider international context, were the subject of a discussion held by the State Secretary to the Prime Minister<\/b> Thanasis Kontogeorgis<\/b> at the Delphi Economic Forum.<\/p>\n

“The regional development is a national goal<\/strong>, the Prime Minister has set it, it is a condition of survival and sustainability of the country<\/strong>. We have two challenges ahead of us: That of regional convergence<\/strong> and that of internal convergence<\/strong> at the level of a prefecture,” he noted at the beginning of the debate, while pointing out that Greek regions have made strides in competitiveness<\/strong> and are better off than in 2014. The same is true in the employment sector: “In all regional units we have 30%-70% reduction in unemployment<\/strong>, but with fluctuations.” While “in purchasing power<\/strong>, with a lot of effort we have reached 2014 levels,” he said, explaining that although “in Attica we are at pre-decade levels,” on the contrary, “in the region we are not.”<\/p>\n

In response to a related question, Thanasis Kontogeorgis focused on three regions with problems<\/b>, but with different characteristics: island North Aegean<\/strong>, Northern Epirus<\/strong> and Eastern Macedonia-Thrace<\/strong>, a region characterised by interregionalism<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

At this point, however, the deputy minister approached the issue from a European perspective<\/b>, saying that “20% of the European population<\/strong>, about 80-90 million people<\/strong>, are living in the region.<\/strong>, live in regions that have had zero growth<\/strong> over the last 20 years. It is not just a Greek phenomenon,” he explained. “The national objective<\/strong> is to protect resources, but, above all, to know in advance what to do with them,” he added.<\/p>\n

The war in Middle East<\/b> but also the end of the Recovery and Resilience<\/strong> Fund<\/strong> are bringing “a revival<\/strong>” to Europe. “I see that there is at the highest level a sense of urgency<\/strong>,” he noted, adding:<\/p>\n

“Now that Europe is conquering its strategic autonomy<\/strong>, it cannot let a single minute go to waste. That is why I believe that within the framework of the Greek Presidency, as a last resort and with the then Greek Prime Minister, who will have to demonstrate diplomatic ability and capacity<\/strong>, (we) must close the European budget<\/strong>“. And for the rest of us, on 1\/1\/2028<\/strong> “we should be ready with a plan for the whole country<\/strong>“.<\/p>\n

In addition, he continued, “in the European budget there is a first consensus at 2.2 trillion<\/strong>.<\/strong>, of which 80%<\/strong> will be directed to Cohesion, Society and Convergence<\/strong>, and Common Agricultural Policy<\/strong>. Some countries want more resources for competitiveness<\/strong>“. While also noting that “in the Recovery and Resilience Fund<\/strong> our country has demonstrated a capacity to be able to respond to performance-based programmes<\/strong>“.<\/p>\n

And on the occasion of his presence at the General Assembly of the Central Union of Greek Chambers<\/strong>, tomorrow, Saturday, in Karditsa, noted that “the chambers<\/strong> and small and medium-sized enterprises<\/strong> are factors of cohesion<\/strong>“.<\/p>\n

The debate ended with the question of the timing of elections<\/b>: here the Deputy Prime Minister had the opportunity to say that “governments are elected every four years to show their work, also to deal with crises – unfortunately there have been several over the years. But the government, with steady steering wheel<\/strong>, has shown results<\/strong> and has contributed, together with the Greek people, to preventing Greek society from sinking in many of these cases. Society came out learnt after a 10-year crisis<\/strong>,” he said, stressing in the meantime:<\/p>\n

“The government needs to complete its cycle<\/strong>. We have 12-14 months of work<\/strong> to deal with the aftermath of the crisis, to help where the need is greatest, to implement the work both nationally and locally. We have made several commitments<\/strong>, which we have to implement in the next 14 months<\/strong>. At the same time, we must also show the proposal for the next day<\/strong>. We must not be overwhelmed by optimism and catastrophism<\/strong>. Our country has taken steps, it has acquired a<\/b> different national confidence<\/strong>. What matters is that every citizen receives it, inside and outside of quotes, and feels that they are part of the effort<\/strong>. This mobilization enables all of society to move forward,” Thanasis Kontogeorgis<\/b> concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The national challenges in the current European and wider international context were the subject of the discussion held by the Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2432,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2431\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}