Mitsotakis at Fair: elections spring 2027

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis held a press conference on the morning of Sunday 6 September 2026, as part of the 90th International Exhibition of Thessaloniki, at the Conference Centre “Ioannis Vellidis”. The press conference began around 11:50 and lasted almost three hours, with the Prime Minister answering a total of 44 questions from journalists. This appearance is part of the established programme of this year’s fair, where the Prime Minister’s opening blessing and evening address at the Thessaloniki Exhibition had preceded. During the press conference, Kyriakos Mitsotakis was called upon to answer both on the political agenda of the country and on the economic measures he had announced shortly before in his address to exhibitors and the business world of Thessaloniki. Journalists from many media outlets attended the event at the Conference Centre, recording all of the questions and answers that followed one after another for almost three hours.

When asked about the timing of the next national elections, the Prime Minister stated: “Elections will be held in spring 2027”, explicitly ruling out the possibility of resorting to the polls earlier. He argued that the leading party forms a government with the Prime Minister as its leader and that this is the only political solution that can ensure stable governance, rejecting the possibility of post-election cooperation between parties. With this statement, the Prime Minister sought to close the issue of the election timetable, which had preoccupied political discussion in recent weeks, and to set the terms on which New Democracy would seek a new governing mandate in spring 2027.

Within the framework of the press conference, Kyriakos Mitsotakis presented the overall package of measures for 2027, which was valued at 2.2 billion euros. Among the measures announced were an increase in the minimum wage above 950 euros from 1 April 2027, with the aim of reaching 1,000 euros in January 2028, a flat allowance of 400 euros for retirees over 65 years without income criteria, a flat allowance of 250 euros for all citizens over 65 years, zero tax for families with three or more children, zero tax for farmers with annual income up to 20,000 euros, as well as 500 euros for public employees. The Prime Minister presented the full package of measures as a bundle of social and development policy in view of the new year, with emphasis on supporting wage earners, retirees, large families, farmers and public employees.

In the day’s publications it was not clarified whether the allowance of 400 euros and the allowance of 250 euros for citizens over 65 years constitute two separate benefits or a different allocation of the same measure, an issue that remains open. The Prime Minister did not announce a legislative timetable for the individual measures nor did he present a detailed breakdown of the cost per measure within the total package of 2.2 billion euros. The press conference took place amid heightened security measures and closed metro stations in Thessaloniki, as recorded in Fair: draconian measures, closed metro stations, and amid mobilisations of bodies described in Thessaloniki: Four mobilisations during the Fair. The reactions of the opposition to what was announced are recorded in a separate report at Fair: opposition reactions to Mitsotakis’ measures.