Mitsotakis outlines party campaign program focusing on improving salaries, services, infrastructure

New Democracy's (ND) campaign program for 2023-2027 runs along five pillars, Greek Prime Minister and ND leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis said at an event at the Hellenic Cosmos Cultural Center on Wednesday evening.

- A productive Greece, developing the real economy and leading to higher purchasing power and incomes, the latter directly related to the growth rate.

- A social Greece, including improvements in health, education, mass transportation and special actions focused on young couples to handle the demographic issue.

- A green and digital Greece, with the main focus being the full digitization of the Greek public sector and services to fight bureaucracy, as well as programs bringing Greece closer to managing climate change. The latter being especially important for future generations and sustaining the natural beauty of Greece.

- A just Greece, including the acceleration of court decisions, an evaluation of the entire public sector, and equality for all.

- A strong Greece, relating to guarding the borders, restructuring police, upgrading the Fire Brigade, and strengthening the Armed Forces at all levels.

Greek productivity includes doubling the growth rate and the public investments, reducing public debt to 140% of the GDP by 2027 and to 120% by 2030, and bringing inflation down to 2% and maintaining that level. It also includes reducing unemployment to under 8% by 2027, increasing exports to 60% of GDP by 2027, expanding the tourism season to the full year with 30 billion euros revenues per year, and keeping Greece among the top ten in the world in supply chains and logistics.

In terms of labor and incomes, it includes increasing the average salary by over 25% within the 2023-2027 period (from 1,170 euros to 1,500 euros) and minimum wage to 950 euros per month, and increasing pensions by 3%-4% from January 1, 2024.

ND's plan also includes decreasing and gradually doing away with the special freelance annual tax for all, including farmers, raising the tax-free minimum by 1,000 euros for families with children, and decreasing by 50% stock exchange transaction taxes.

Infrastructure plans include a total of 2,300 critical infrastructure projects (roads, airports, metro and subways, ports, water and sewage networks) in Greece, including 10 key projects such as the Thessaloniki metro, the Patras-Pyrgos highway, the expansion of the Athens metro, and the Northern Axial Road on Crete.

Social plans include raising nursing staff by 10,000, updating 80 hospitals and 156 health centers, and creating 315 telemedicine units, introducing free preventative examinations for all, digital transformation of services and prescription writing, and creating 311 new mental health centers in Greece.

Other programs Mitsotakis mentioned in the plan included better public education for all and improved mass transportation, and upgrade of courts and reaching court decisions in a timely manner to match the European average (of under 500 days), and a completion of outstanding cases.

The PM also mentioned an evaluation system in the public sector leading to productivity bonuses, introducing training programs for 400,000 employees, and instituting a public-administration-wide system of electronic checking in through cards.

Issues on the ND agenda for a second term include dealing with domestic violence against women, reducing the gender pay gap, and implementing a national strategy for equality for LGBTQI+ individuals.

Mitsotakis also stresed guarding the Greek borders, expanding the border wall at Evros along the entire Evros River (140 km) and reorganizing police, including digitizing and dealing with police abuse. National security includes hiring 500 Fire Brigade staff and upgrading the information system for event management. In addition, bilateral agreements for seasonal migrant work will bring specialized workers to Greece, with numbers increasing by 15% every year, based on 2022 figures. Mitsotakis also made note of the military procurements program and the upgrade of Greece's defense capabilities with the Rafale jets, the Belharra frigates, and other related defense contracts.