Greek Covid-19 Support Measures Get Extension
The Hellenic Parliament, Syntagma Square. Photo © GTP
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Friday announced extended relief measures to lessen the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, which include rent exemptions and employee subsidies, as well as a tougher fines for anyone violating Covid-19 measures.
Mitsotakis made the announcement in parliament ahead of plans to re-open retail on Monday provided he gets the go-ahead from the country’s Covid-19 crisis committee.
The PM said the measures – the extension of an 80 percent reduction in rents for affected parties into February and the extension for two months of expired unemployment benefits – were aimed at alleviating households and society.
“Each month of lockdown measures cost the Greek economy over 3 billion euros,” Mitsotakis said, explaining why “the time has come to gradually take the risk and gradually re-open the economy, if experts advise.”
The PM went on to stress the importance of conforming to the rules, adding that fines for violations had increased to 500 euros from 300 euros.
ECDC map
The prime minister said Greece had so far managed to overcome the holidays “without major disruption” and referred to a Covid-19 risk indicator map of the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC) released this week in which Greece is the only country in Europe with low risk areas specified in green. These areas are the Epirus region in northwestern Greece and the Ionian and Aegean islands.
The prime minister said the next steps included maintaining preventative measures, restarting the economy with targeted restrictions, and pushing forward with vaccinations. He also referred to free rapid testing options.
Lastly, he said it was possible for a considerable segment of the population to have been vaccinated by summer.
ΠΗΓΗ GTP
