The data on income and taxes gleaned from the 2018 tax returns reveal an economic reality that leaves no room for complacency.

Many households live in conditions of poverty and in the last four years the aggregate income of all Greek taxpayers was reduced by 2.4bn euros.

That means that the middle class is still shrinking and poverty is growing.

This is an image of decline that is confirmed by the UN report on happiness. Our country is becoming ever more poor and unhappy.  Greece fell by three notches in one year, from 79th to 82nd, even as a northern European country, Finland, was ranked as the happiest country in the world.

Our country has a duty to raise the bar. The trend can be reversed. Greek society has the forces and desire to exit the vicious circle of the crisis and to heal the wounds accumulated over a decade.

This requires the assistance of the political system, because without political direction and the right decisions Greek society will be kept down.

The war against poverty and unhappiness must become a national affair.

The national interest demands that easy rivalries be set aside so as to achieve at long last the aim of national reconstruction.

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