PM Mitsotakis: Greece needs to continue on the path to innovation

Greece has taken significant steps to reduce its debt, brought investments and new jobs, and development helped support households, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said at a conversation with Peter Spiegel at the Delphi Economic Forum VIII on Friday.

This path must continue, he said: "There is only one path - innovation, and increasing wages, both the minimum one and the average one, by 25%."

Mitsotakis said that inflation is not a Greek phenomenon alone, and recognized the pressure it added to citizens. The government supported them by creating a fiscal space, he said. Speaking of his government's four-year term, he referred to investments in Greece in tourism and by pharmaceutical companies among others, and the digitization of public administration which must be fully digitized by 2027. In addition, justice needs to imprmove with trial cases speeding up their rulings to approach the European average time.

The premier also mentioned the lessons learned from the deadly train collision at Tempi and wiretapping by the National Intelligence Service, where the government "learned their lesson and changed everything."

Referring to Türkiye, he said that the neighboring country "must make a strategic decision: does it want to resolve the Cyprus issue and change its stance with the West, or will it continue a poloicy that is closer to China and Russia? They have painted Greek islands in their own colors on the Turkish map, and that is not positive. Perhaps they will return to reality after elections. We are not discussing issues of borders and national sovereignty. There is only one issue, that of maritime zones. nothing else, I'm clear on that."

Among other issues, Mitsotakis did not favor a collaboration government, and said the decision rested in the hands of voters. Commenting on SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance leader Alexis Tsipras, Mitsotakis said he would never underestimate him. "He has exhibited political skill. But as prime minister, he was catastrophic. We have a lot of leading actors," he said, also referring to MeRA25 leader Yanis Varoufakis and the economic system 'Dimitra' he is promoting. "Let us not forget what happened in 2015. We will either move Greece forward or backward," he said.