ATHENS – With the national plan on reducing high prices for electricity, the adjustment clause will essentially be suspended and everyone will see the price hikes in electricity dwindle by 70-90 pct, government spokesperson Yiannis Oikonomou said in an interview with the national television channel ERT 1 on Friday.

“Within June the platform will open so that those with an [annual] family income of up to 45,000 euros will have amounts from the excess charges returned to their bank accounts,” he added.

“A series of businesses is seeing in their power bills the backdated return of charges from the previous period,” he added, noting that Greece has done a great deal more than many of its EU partners – relative to its population, the size of its economy and its public finances – to mitigate the impact of higher energy prices.

Outlining the government’s plans for the coming months, he said that forecasts for the Greek economy were very positive, while the government’s goals still included the abolition of a series of taxes.

“All the reductions in taxes and social insurance contributions that we have are of a permanent nature. It is not in the government’s plans to reverse any easing of taxes and insurance contributions, even less so to impose any new tax,” he added.

The spokesperson emphasised the need to continue a prudent and judicious economic policy that corresponded with the strength of the economy, while stressing that any overperformance will immediately be transformed into a social gain for the citizens.

“Secondly, we will ensure, maintaining this fiscal balance, that we will never again live through ordeals such as those that hurt as all and especially those that were weakest in previous years. We support the citizens up to the economy’s limits,” he said.

Oikonomou ruled out any change in election law, as well as any change in the timing of elections, which he said will be held at the end of the government’s four-year term. The fact that the government was maintaining its lead in the polls, despite unprecedented crises, meant that voters approved of the way these crises were handled, he added, rejecting opposition criticism.

Commenting on the increasingly confrontational rhetoric and unacceptable actions on the part of Turkey, the spokesperson said they reflected irritation and annoyance at Greece’s increasingly stronger geopolitical and geostrategic position, its enhanced deterrent and defence capability, as well as its alliances, relationships and agreements.

“The country has no reason to be afraid of anything…Greece is a country that has made a strong comeback. It is a factor for security and stability,” he said.