In an interview with ERTNews, Greek Deputy Minister of Labor Kostas Karagounis addressed key economic issues, highlighting a significant drop in unemployment to 9% for the first time. He anticipates further improvements and proposes reforms to the unemployment benefit system. Karagounis reassured pensioners that there will be no further cuts to their increases and outlined steps for addressing backlog in pension applications. He also commented on the criticisms regarding former Prime Minister Kostas Simitis and emphasized the importance of societal acceptance of the new President of Greece amid international challenges.