A new attack on the cost-of-living policy
Former prime minister Antonis Samaras used a new video statement on 19 October 2026 to criticise the government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis over high prices and to set out the tax cuts he wants. Greek outlets carried the statement that afternoon, and iefimerida noted that he presented the proposals without having announced a party. Samaras argued that the cost of living is not only shaped by events abroad. He accused the government of keeping taxes high in order to produce budget surpluses and to lower the public debt artificially. He called the government 'managerial' and 'neoliberal' and contrasted it with his own view of social policy.
“The high cost of living is not only the result of international developments. It is also a matter of government policy.”
Fuel taxes at the centre of the proposals
Samaras said that more than half of what a motorist pays at the petrol station is tax on the fuel itself. He compared Greek levies with European minimums, citing an excise duty of 70 cents per litre on unleaded petrol against a European floor of 36 cents. He also cited fuel VAT at 24% against a minimum of 15%, and asked for both the excise and the VAT on fuel to be reduced. He said Greece has considerable room to cut these within EU limits, and that this is possible regardless of developments in the Persian Gulf. He added that electricity prices could also fall significantly. The figures are the ones he gave in the statement.
- Greece, as cited by Samaras
- 70 cents per litre
- EU minimum, as cited by Samaras
- 36 cents per litre
Data from the article text
VAT cuts and the catering sector
Samaras proposed lowering the top VAT rate from 24% to 23%, the rate he said applied during his own time in government. He also proposed moving a series of products from 24% to 13%. Catering was his main example, which he described as a sector of hundreds of thousands of small and medium-sized Greek businesses that is also part of the tourism package. He rejected claims that these measures cannot be done, saying they can and that his government did them before. The proposals were presented as a direct response to the rising cost of household and business spending.
Social liberalism and the fiscal objection
Samaras framed his position as a question of political principle, presenting it as the substantive difference with the government. According to NEWS 24/7, the government's position is that it cannot cut the fuel excise without first securing agreement to exclude the lost revenue from the expenditure ceiling. Samaras disputed that line and recalled that he cut indirect taxes while the troika objected. He said Greece then ran deficits, while it now runs surpluses, and that the earlier tax cuts did not create a problem for public revenues.
“Social liberalism, which I believe in, requires state intervention to relieve households and businesses. And that is a substantive political difference.”
He insisted the measures can be repeated under current conditions.
“I did it in much worse conditions. And they can be done again.”