As part of tour of the Municipality of Vari-Voula-Vouliagmeni, Kyriakos Mitsotakis made it clear that national elections will be held at the end of the four-year term, while he launched a fierce attack against the populist promises of the opposition.
Categorically rejecting scenarios of early elections and sending a message of institutional stability, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis addressed a gathering of citizens during his visit to Vari-Voula-Vouliagmeni.
Mr. Mitsotakis clarified that his ongoing engagement with local communities is not part of some hidden election strategy, but rather a standard practice of his administration. “Many people think that I’ve launched some kind of informal election campaign because I intend to hold elections earlier. What I’m doing here today at 3B, I’ve been doing for three years, and I’ll continue to do so until the elections,” the prime minister clarified.
Referring to the major reforms of the current government’s term, the prime minister placed healthcare reforms at the forefront of his priorities, emphasizing that the government is judged by its tangible achievements and not by partisan divisions. “The overhaul of the National Health System (ESY) was a central priority of our second four-year term. Everything we’ve done in healthcare shows that, beyond sterile political confrontation, what matters to citizens is what will make their lives better. We didn’t make empty promises,” he emphasized.
In the field of economics, Mr. Mitsotakis took a historical look back, comparing the burdens of the past with the country’s current fiscal progress. As he noted, “our generation, which came of age politically in the 1980s and 1990s, has witnessed the history of debt crushing the country, and for the first time, Greece is managing to reduce its public debt at the fastest raterate in history. We have a duty not to pass on to the next generation an unmanageable debt that will suffocate us. We have charted a prudent course: to lower taxes and support our citizens.”
Meanwhile, the prime minister sharply criticized the rhetoric of the opposition parties, accusing them of irresponsible populist promises that jeopardize the country’s stability. “In today’s political competition, ‘Free Handout 1’ is competing against ‘Free Handout 2’. Whoever promises you free handouts, know that they will take them away from you. We create wealth in society that is distributed to citizens as dividends, without jeopardizing public finances, “We cannot make promises we cannot fulfill the very next day”, he noted. Citing a specific example of political opposition, he added that “some are promising free public transportation, while we have eliminated the tax for the younger generation,” urging citizens “to be very wary of those who promise things that don’t exist. Think about what we’ll be hearing until the elections,” since, as he emphasized, “only we have a plan for the day after.”
Mr. Mitsotakis also made special mention of international economic developments, against the backdrop of the U.S.-Iran agreement. He pledged that the government would take action to ensure that the benefits of the international decline in fuel prices reach domestic consumers directly, while also announcing a new digital tool to combat inflation. As he announced, “the government will ensure that the drop in oil prices is passed on to the market. Tomorrow we are launching an innovative platform, posokanei, which will empower consumers to find the best prices at any given moment.”
Concluding his speech, the prime minister outlined the critical challenges of the coming period, asking citizens to reflect on the gravity of the task of governing the country in a volatile international environment. “Do we want to once again place our trust in those who make promises they cannot keep? To whom will we entrust the helm of the country during a period of critical geopolitical developments? Why are they bothered by the real dilemma of who will step up to the plate in the event of a crisis?” concluded Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
