Greece trying to close VAT gap with EU

The government wants to "close the VAT gap we have between where we are and what the average European space is," Deputy Finance Minister Harry Theoharis told the Greek Parliament's Economy Committee during the discussion on the draft state budget for 2024.

"This means that by 2026 we must boost revenues, especially in VAT, by nearly 2 billion euros, after we already covered €2.5 billion toward closing the gap," Theoharis said.

He also condemned the calls from the main opposition to reduce VAT or cancel the special consumption tax.

"We have a prudent fiscal policy that brings results. Last year we had a 0.1% primary surplus, when we expected a deficit. This year we are exceeding 0.7% of that state budget in primary surplus, and we are definitely at 1.1% of the medium-term budget, which was our target, therefore we are continuing in the last year of this great...