Greek government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis accused former prime minister Alexis Tsipras of building his party's economic program on what he called a monument to political fraud, directly challenging the way Tsipras costed the pledges he unveiled at the Thessaloniki International Fair. Marinakis made the remarks during a briefing for political reporters on 10 September 2026.
He focused on promised pay rises for doctors, nurses and teachers, on new hires and on tax cuts, saying that in several cases the real cost was either far higher than stated or booked for only a single year instead of every year it would actually be paid.
On PASOK, Marinakis said the party's own complaint that Tsipras had copied 80% of its program was reason enough for a jab, saying that since they matched so well, why not become in-laws.
Government's Case Against the Costing
Marinakis said he had drawn his figures from the Finance Ministry's review of Tsipras's costing and asked citizens, whether or not they support the government, to read the ministry's detailed findings for themselves.
He said the program Tsipras unveiled after his Thessaloniki speech, on behalf of the Greek Left Coalition, amounted to a manual of political fraud. He said it was a monument to political fraud that, in his view, exceeded in scale the deception of citizens seen 10 or 15 years ago, because back then politicians at least spoke in empty words and exaggerations without pretending the figures were institutional and costed.
He said he had drawn examples from material presented by Tsipras's own aides and from the ministry's rebuttal of it. Tsipras had said pay for doctors and nurses would rise by an average of 500 euros a month, which Marinakis said should cost 900 million euros a year from 2027 through 2030, since the raise would continue to be paid every following year. Instead, he said, Tsipras's program listed the cost at 225 million euros a year, a quarter of what it should be.
He said the same method was used for teachers. Tsipras had promised what he called dignity salaries with an initial rise of 300 euros a month, which Marinakis costed at 840 million euros a year from 2027 onward. He said the program again divided that figure by four instead of repeating it each year, and that the same approach was applied to pledges concerning students. He said the other discrepancies were even more striking.
Firefighters, Free Tickets and Tax Breaks
Marinakis said Tsipras had promised the hiring of seasonal firefighters in 2027 at a cost of 15 million euros a year. He said a person hired in 2027 would still be on the state payroll in 2028, 2029 and 2030, since firefighters are not hired for a single year. Yet, he said, Tsipras's own costing listed the 15 million euros for 2027 alone, and he asked whether the firefighters would then be dismissed in 2028 and who would pay them afterward.
He made a similar point about free urban transport, saying free tickets for Athens and Thessaloniki were budgeted only for 2027, with no spending shown in the years after. He said this implied commuters would have to start paying again from 2028, with no indication of who would cover the cost from then on. He added that Tsipras had a particular fondness for offering things for free.
He also cited a pledge to double the tax deduction for families with children, saying it was budgeted only for 2028, at 830 million euros, and asking whether the measure would then stop, since the same amount was not carried through to 2029 and 2030. He said the Finance Ministry put the real cost at 1.04 billion euros, not the figure used in Tsipras's program.
On the pledge of 30,000 new teaching posts, Marinakis said the program showed no hiring at all in 2027 or 2028, with spending for only 15,000 hires appearing in 2029 and no matching increase in 2030 to reach the promised 30,000. He said the Finance Ministry put the real cost of hiring 30,000 teachers at 569 million euros, not the 150 million euros in Tsipras's figures. He said this amounted to outright fraud, adding that the country had gone from illusions to frauds.
No Coalition With Tsipras, Jab at PASOK
Asked about possible post-election alliances, Marinakis ruled out any scenario in which New Democracy would form a coalition government with Tsipras, calling the idea funny.
On PASOK, he referred to the party's own accusation that Tsipras had copied 80% of its program. The accusation came from PASOK's headquarters on Charilaou Trikoupi Street in Athens, a name commonly used as shorthand for the party. Marinakis said that with someone you agree with 80% of the time, you try to reach 100%, and repeated his line that since they matched so well, they should become in-laws.
'Our Opponent Is Citizens' Complaints'
Responding to the suggestion that the government is boosting Tsipras's profile in order to pick him as its main rival, Marinakis said the government's opponent is the complaints of citizens. He said that setting the bar that low would mean the fight was already lost before it started. Asked about those he said were unsettled because their party had slipped from second to third place and blamed it on a government plan, Marinakis said that was their own problem.
'Prime Minister of Tarps'
Marinakis reserved some of his sharpest language for Tsipras's references to the Thessaloniki Metro, saying it would be enough for what he called the prime minister of tarps to apologise. He argued that the metro project unveiled under the SYRIZA government that Tsipras once led was not merely unfinished but could not actually operate.
On remote train-control systems, Marinakis accused Tsipras of wagging his finger at the current government despite, he said, having handed the system over at just 1% completion.
He also took aim at PASOK's criticism of the government's fiscal space, saying that for PASOK to comment on fiscal space was like telling someone who had never commented on a single minute of football to comment on the World Cup.
