"The society is paying a very high price for Mitsotakis' government," stated main opposition SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance spokesperson Nassos Iliopoulos when referring to the price hike and the minimum wage increase.
Speaking to Alpha FM on Sunday, Iliopoulos noted that the key-proposal for the rescue to the small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and thousands of job positions is the settlement and the write off of the private debt created in the period of the pandemic underlining that the SMEs have "restricted" access to liquidity.
On the government's announcement for the increase of the minimum wage, Iliopoulos accused the government of not have taken the necessary measures and that "the government's officials speak of an imminent generous and substantial increase of the minimum wage, practically, admitting that 2 percent is not a substantial increase."
"It is obvious that the government is not going to increase the minimum wage because it believes in the labour rights but, because it is in a panic", Iliopoulos added.
He also wondered why the increase will be given in May and not now that thousands of households can't meet the price hike wave.
"Our realistic proposal is the minimum wage at 800 euros right now," he said.
On the opening of schools, Iliopoulos said that the schools should open with safety adding that they are not parking for children and that's why his party is asking for the special purpose leave for working parents.
READ MORE: KINAL: The new COVID-19 measures should have been introduced earlier.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Thursday that Greece will raise the minimum wage for a second time later this year as rising inflation takes a toll on consumers’ income.
The government increased monthly gross minimum wage by about 2%, raising minimum wage to 663 euros from this month.
In speaking Antenna television, Mitsotakis said “I estimate that the rise in the minimum wage will be a significant one, it will be much higher than the 2% rise,” the Prime Minister said.
“We estimate that this disturbance (with energy prices) will be more intense in the first three months of 2022 before it subsides,” Mitsotakis warned.
In speaking about COVID-19, Mitsotakis said he was “cautiously optimistic” about the pandemic, with cases seen dropping further in the next coming weeks.
Greece has extended restrictions by a week at restaurants and bars to help curb the Omicron variant, which has dominated the country and was the main driver of a surge in COVID-19 infections in recent weeks.
READ MORE: SYRIZA blames Mitsotakis government for rapid spread of COVID-19.
