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- Ο, how can it happen? In many ways. All countries could reduce government spending, which has increased greatly in all countries. How could government spending be reduced? We have a health care system and 1 million immigrants who go to Greek hospitals and do not pay anything. Is it possible to go to a hospital and get free medical care? You pay a minimum price for each visit to the hospital or for each service. I'm not saying that government hospitals should work for a profit. At least and Greeks, and immigrants could contribute by paying for their treatment or a small percentage. This is one example. Another example is public education. Did you know that here we even give textbooks to the students. Textbooks are free. Do you understand? All right. Is it appropriate all students, irrespective of their financial status, to receive free books? Why? There are people who very well may buy their books, not the state to pay for them. Some, of course, may need to receive free textbooks, because the income of their parents is low and they can not pay for the books. Let them get free books. But should there be a general policy of providing free textbooks to all regardless of income? You know, my calculations show that you can cut 40% of government spending without reducing the offered services. Government spending is just a tool used by politicians to demonstrate their strength. And they do not reduce government spending, because this – according to them – will decline their power, or their conviction, or their ability to collect votes in the elections, etc. etc. In a democracy, parties, in their struggle for power, are constantly increasing government expenditure. This must stop. It is not possible for the economies to create that growth, which is necessary to maintain this constant, this endless increase in government spending.

- The Greek social security system is considered to be the most expensive one in the EU. On the other hand, we can not say that Greeks take very large pensions. Where exactly is the problem with the social security system? On one hand, the state grants much money, on the other, why pensioners do not take such large pensions?  

- The problem with the pension system should be examined by groups of secured. There are social security funds, say the sailors fund – as you know Greece has one of the largest merchant marine in the world. The Sailors Pension Fund was one of the most stable social security funds in Greece, because the Greek sailors and shipowners pooled their contributions. They were invested and generated income and there were no problems. The problem with the pension fund of the veteran sailors appeared in the 80's, when governments began to retire through it, but did it with other funds and with people who did not pay any contribution in their lives nor to the sailors’ fund or to the pension fund of farmers or any other fund. How is it possible to increase the number of pensioners when they have paid nothing in their entire working life? Therefore, the problem occured because those who contributed to the pension funds and expected to get a pension at the end of their working lives saw that their contributions become pensions for people who have not contributed anything. When you divide one loaf to many people, you are forced to give a little to all, right? If this bad political choice from the 80's, 90's and today was not made, many of the funds would not be in the state they are now. Simply the Greek governments, and many other governments around the world, have followed a bad social security policy, because they were thinking politically rather than economically. Pensions should be directed to those who have contributed. You can not receive a pension without making any contributions throughout your working life. You must contribute, your contributions to be invested, the investments to multiply, so you can get a better pension. The problem is that the ones who have paid contributions are not so many but are many those who receive a pension. Therefore, here the state should say: “OK, we know we followed a very bad policy the last 30 years, so now we will start to give some contributions to the social security funds from the budget.” But these contributions, of course, are not sufficient. As a result, there is a major problem with the social security system now. It is not only a Greek problem, but of all social security funds, of the French Social Security Fund. And the problems are because the social security funds do not function on the base of return, ie, the more you contribute, the more you get. They function on the old base. They were distributing social security systems, waiting for future generations to enter the labor market so that their contributions can pay the future contracts. This system can no longer be maintained, because the age structure of population has changed. So now, as you know, we move to a mixed system in which there will be a social pension and a pension as a reward. So, we hope that after 10-15-20 years, this structural problem in the social security system will be eliminated.