Dev. Min.: There will be no horizontal reduction on fuel excise tax

Measures to be announced by the government in the coming days were heralded by the Minister of Development and Investment, Adonis Georgiadis, speaking to MEGA television, stressing that Greece is in a good position compared to other countries.

The announcements will come within a week, according to Mr. Georgiadis, with the government attempting to relieve as many citizens as possible. However, as he said the excise tax on fuel which has always been high will see no horizontal reduction.

Mr. Georgiadis also spoke of the government’s efforts to fight fuel adulteration using DI.MEA (Inter-Service Market Control Unit) for daily checks, but noted that there can be no penalties for just selling at lower than refinery prices, just for selling at highly marked up prices

As concerns profiteering, the Minister, noted that the new provides for publishing the names of offenders that have fined with 50,000 euros or more, or have been fined twice.

However, he noted that “a horizontal tax reduction runs counter to our economic reality,” and would threaten state finances.

TV licenses and the Novartis case

Regarding the referral of Nikos Pappas to the Special Court, Adonis Georgiadis stated that the charge was for a misdemeanor, but, nonetheless a humiliation for the politician and his party SYRIZA.

On the issue of the Novartis saga, he noted that the prosecution’s proposal for referral of Mr. Papagelopoulos and Ms. Touloupaki, and her Assistant Prosecutors were just and parsimonious, since the prosecutor opted for the acquittal of journalists implicated in the case.