Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called upon voters to reaffirm the strong mandate given to his government when they go to the polls for the European Parliament elections on June 9, during an interview to the newspaper 'Real News' published on Sunday.
In reply to a question about high prices and the "a priori rejection" of proposals from main opposition SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance to reduce VAT, he repeated that such reductions of VAT "have been shown to never reach consumers, as was proven in countries where they were adopted".
"To begin with, I never reject anything a priori, even if it comes from SYRIZA. Reading the positions of the main opposition, however, I can tell you a posteriori that these lead with mathematical precision to bankruptcy once more," he said. He accused the main opposition party of "changing its leader but not its mindset" and continuing a populist approach of empty promises.
Mitsotakis said that he acknowledged the problem but the answer was not that proposed by the main opposition, but permanent increases in income and bigger welfare handouts for the most vulnerable households.
Pointing to the latest encouraging figures regarding unemployment and incomes, he said the government will continue to take emergency measures until prices stop rising.
One more such step was his letter to the president of the European Commission on curbing unfair pricing policies of multinationals, he said, expressing optimism that this proposal will eventually become European policy, as with earlier Greek proposals on a European level.
The prime minister's interview also touched on policy for affordable housing and rents, tax incentives to encourage people to have more children, the reform of the national health system, policing issues such as domestic violence and sports violence, the renewal of the urban public transport fleets with electric buses and various other issues.
He confirmed that his goal is for ND to get 33% of the vote in the European elections, saying he was confident that this would be achieved, while ruling out a reshuffle after June 9.
On foreign policy issues, he said that both North Macedonia and Albania "only stand to benefit from having good relations with Greece," noting that the European course of both countries will depend on Athens.
Regarding relations with Turkiye, he highlighted what he called "low policy" issues, such as the fast-track visas for Greek islands, that had a much larger impact on the lives of Greeks, while stressing that the government was well aware that the larger issues will not be magically solved.
"Greece's position is one, steadfast and based on international law: the difference between Greece and Turkiye concerns only the continental shelf and the Exclusive Economic Zone. Only for this can we agree to go to the International Court," he emphasised.
In the meantime, he added, the message was that the two peoples, instead of "constantly being with their finger on the trigger," could think about how to make their day-to-day lives better.