"There is no culture of cooperation with the Ministry, there are people who are willing to cooperate"
There is no culture of institutionalized cooperation with the Ministry of Finance, although there is consultation and cooperation with specific people in the Ministry, said the President of the Fiscal Council Michalis Persianis, complaining that "everything we say is interpreted politically".
Presenting the Council's budget for 2024 before the Finance Parliamentary Committee, and answering questions about the Council's cooperation with the Ministry of Finance, Mr. Persianis said that there is no culture of cooperation with the Ministry, to add that there are people who are willing to cooperate.
"At the moment our cooperation is satisfactory because of specific people, executives with whom we can talk to come to an agreement in the Ministry of Finance, but at an institutional level I cannot say that," he said.
He expressed his embarrassment because, as he mentioned, "what we say as a Council is interpreted politically" and added: "We want to be sterile from the political dimension. On the other hand, we are not going to see dangers and remain silent, and that is what is happening."
In relation to the state of the economy and public finances, Mr. Persianis said that in the short term, the image of the economy is very positive with the Ministry of Finance having control over public finances, as he said.
He reiterated his concern about the increase in inflexible state spending, saying that these "mainly deprive each government of the fiscal space to implement policy", at a time when "we are entering a year of great uncertainty and the developments will be mainly exogenous".
As he said, he foresees an increase in inelastic spending, expressing concern at the same time that the rate of revenue growth will not be as high as estimated.
At the same time, Mr. President of the Fiscal Council emphasized that in the long run the management of the Social Insurance Fund, with the government's debt having exceeded 10 billion, is cause for concern.
"It doesn't need a solution now but it needs decisions as quickly as possible," he said, recalling his earlier reports that "the slower decisions are made the more painful they will be."
The President of the Fiscal Council noted, however, that the issue of TKA is a long-standing practice and is nothing new. He characterized as positive the fact that the agreement has been activated, which provides for the return of interest on borrowing from TKA. "This is positive because we want there to be a little pain in the Ministry of Finance when this act is done," he said, adding that the projected increase in the cost of managing the public debt is mainly attributed to the payment of 4% to TKA.
Explaining his disagreement with this practice of using TKA's reserve, Mr. Persianis noted that this "creates perverse incentives and deprives TKA of making its own investments."
However, both the president of the Commission Christiana Erotokritou and members of the commission were in favor of strengthening the cooperation of the Council with both the executive and legislative powers. "Cooperation with the parliamentary finance committee must be instituted," he said.
Year of maturation
Besides, regarding the course of the Fiscal Council, Mr. Persianis said that 2024 will be a year of maturation of the institution. As he said, we have completed the internal processes with the introduction of our new fully electronic file, practices and policies. He also noted that the Council is ready to exchange macroeconomic estimation models with two other Councils.
He also noted that the Council is ahead of schedule on the techno-economic side. Regarding the Council's budget, he said that it is somewhat increased due to the purchase of mainly expert services. According to a note from the Council, the budget is balanced and foresees expenditure of €508,642 and shows an increase of 20.3% or €85,924 in absolute numbers.