Greece's celebrated reduction in public debt has with sobering data on private liabilities and inequality at the Delphi Economic Forum, exposing sharp divisions over whether the country's recovery has reached ordinary citizens.
Hours after the government announced a €500 million relief package, former Finance Minister Christos Staikouras defended the administration's fiscal record, citing fresh Eurostat data showing a 40-percentage-point drop in public debt since 2019.
Mr. Staikouras argued the primary surplus is being distributed equitably, while acknowledging that Greek disposable incomes remain well below the European average.
Opposition lawmakers pushed back hard. PASOK Member of Parliament Milena Apostolaki argued the surpluses are built on regressive indirect taxes rather than corporate taxation, and dismissed the government's newly announced 72-installment debt repayment plan as a mechanism for liquidating household wealth.
Mrs. Apostolaki pointed to private debt reaching 160 percent of GDP as evidence that fiscal consolidation has been achieved at the public's expense.
The scale of that private burden was laid out in stark terms by Cepal Hellas Chief Executive Theodoros Athanasopoulos, who said total private debt now stands at €408 billion.
Of that, €236 billion is in arrears — and 60 percent is owed not to private banks but directly to state tax and social security funds.
DLA Piper partner Orestis Omran urged caution about declaring Greece a full recovery story. Mr. Omran described the country's current position as a "responsibility story" — a return to international market credibility that has not yet translated into comprehensive domestic economic restoration.
The forum debate laid bare the central tension in Greek public life: a state balance sheet that has been transformed, and a household balance sheet that has not.