ENGLISH SECTION
04/04/2025 | 17:25
Mitsotakis: It’s time for the truth to strike back
“Now it is the turn of truth to strike back. As more evidence comes to light about the Tempi tragedy, we see that there was an attempt to cover up the truth. Some of the opposition parties attempted to manipulate public opinion by exploiting human suffering,” underlined Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in his address to a meeting of New Democracy’s (ND) parliamentary group on Friday.
“While the propaganda of the opposition parties and certain media outlets regarding the Tempi train tragedy prevailed, important things were happening in the country, which took a back seat. The minimum wage was increased for 5th time, we have created 500,000 new jobs in the last five and a half years, we have lower unemployment than countries such as Sweden, the salaries of the Armed Forces officers were raised and the US group Chevron reaffirmed its interest to search for fossil fuels south of Crete, recognising in practice our sovereign rights in the region,” he underlined.
“On Monday, together with the Deputy Prime Minister Kostis Hatzidakis, we are convening the Government Economic Policy Council in order to assess the impact on our country of the tariffs Trump has imposed and to decide regarding our own actions to protect the Greek economy,” Mitstoakis added.
The prime minister emphasised the importance of economic stability, noting: “The citizens gave us a mandate to increase public revenues, support investments, increase jobs, so that collective growth is converted into individual prosperity. Today, I would add, in addition to implementing our commitments, we have an obligation to keep the boat of our country safe in these troubled waters, remaining firmly on a course of sustainable growth when the big economies of Europe are in danger of a recession, because this is finally the arm of security, to keep our internal stability against a wave of domestic doubt.
Mitsotakis said that some were “lying in wait to distort everything”, adding that this almost happened with the initiative to increase the pay of the armed forces’ personnel.
“A positive initiative should not be placed in opposition to the demands of other professional groups and we say no to new, uncosted expectations. Economic policy is decided and implemented centrally,” the prime minister stressed.
He repeated that the elections will be held at the end of the government’s four-year term, in 2027, and that ND will win with him at the helm, electing the same number or even more MPs to Parliament, “as long as we believe in it”. He also stressed that this was demanded by national necessity, for the “country to steer its course with stability in an environment of uncharted waters.”
Mitsotakis concluded by announcing that his proposal for next secretary of ND’s Parliamentary Group is Apostolos Vesyropoulos, thanking outgoing secretary Stavros Kalafatis for his work in the position, and announced a new plan, with MPs assigned to coordinating roles in the six standing committees.
Source: ANA – MPA
