ATHENS — "From the first moment of the pandemic, the government proceeded with a plan, speed and efficiency to strengthen public health and build a safety net for workers, businesses and the unemployed," government spokesperson Aristotelia Peloni said on Thursday, during a press briefing.

"It allocated 24 billion euros in 2020 and continues with an additional 11.6 billion euros in 2021 in an effort to mitigate the repercussions of the pandemic, to support employment, to give liquidity to businesses and pave the way for the day after the pandemic," she underlined.

"In defiance of irresponsible doom-mongering, all the evidence shows that the national economy has held up. Despite the unprecedented difficulties, we had very few shutterings. The country had the second best performance in Europe in getting unemployment under control. And the recession was limited to 8.2 pct, counter to the gloomy forecasts of the opposition," Peloni said, quoting earlier statements made by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

The government's goal now was for the production sector to stay on its feet until the end of the ordeal so as to more confidently take the first steps of the post-pandemic period, Peloni added, once again quoting the prime minister.

She also said that "in this context – as already announced by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and elaborated by Finance Minister Christos Staikouras – the government is proceeding with new support measures for more than 500,000 companies, self-employed and millions of employees."

"This package of new measures comes to prove – once again – that the government is not going to leave anyone behind. It promptly and responsibly paves the way for the safe transition to the next day that is not far away."