PM Mitsotakis in Iraklio: Domestic and foreign challenges need a strong, stand-alone government

A renewed four-year term of New Democracy in power will provide security from external danger, a stable economy, and prosperity to the Greek people, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in Iraklio, Crete on Monday.

"We never forgot our commitments," Mitsotakis said, despite all the challenges his government faced, from economic to relations with Turkiye, to natural disasters.

He accused main opposition leader Alexis Tsipras of hypocrisy and said that "Mr. Tsipras respects justice only when its decisions are in his interest." Under the SYRIZA- Progressive Alliance rule, he added, "Greece was a crossroads of migrants, but has now become a homeland with borders on air, land, and at sea."

Speaking against a coalition government in his case, Mitsotakis also accused PASOK-KINAL leader Nikos Androulakis of "looking back to the past and waging a full-frontal attack against me, but PASOK's voters joined us in the fight against populism.[...] Their stance is not with populism."

Referring to Greece's standing at the European Union, he said "I brought 31 billion euros from the Recovery Fund, following 5 days of negotiations in Brussels." For Crete specifically, the projects to be funded include 480 works worth 7.7 billion euros, he said.

Mitsotakis also reiterated his renewed government's top priority of salary raises, raising the average monthly wage to 1,500 euros and the minimum wage to 950 euros, he said.

In the May 21 elections, the PM told the audience, "We either forge ahead or turn back," by choosing between him and Tsipras.