Speculations that the tour to Crete was an elections campaign are nonsense, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said in a meeting with Archibishop of Crete Irineos.
“We are at the beginning of the government’s 4-year term,” Tsipras noted.
“Elections will be held in September 2019,” the prime minister underlined. “Two targets will have been met by then,” he said. These will be the exit from the supervision programmes in the middle of our term and the great vision of the country’s productive reconstruction, he added.
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras wrapped up his two-day tour of Crete by meeting with Lasithi olive growers on Wednesday, noting that the olive oil that they produced was Greece’s own “nuclear power” and a product that could attract millions of tourists. Visiting the Kritsa Oil Producers Cooperative, Tsipras said that Crete produced oil of “peerless quality” and this needed to be better promoted abroad.
He also praised the Kritsa Cooperative as an example for Greece, not only for the high quality of its products but also for preserving the cohesion of its member-farmers.
Tsipras earlier visited Agios Nikolaos in Lasithi, where he spoke with farmers and representatives of the local authorities and pledged the government’s support for the region. He also assured them of the government’s political will to solve the problems troubling Lasithi and said this was reflected in the decision to devote half of the funds for Crete in the Public Investment Programme to the Lasithi area.
Tsipras said that Greece would be able to get realistic primary surplus targets in order to escape from the memorandums and the deep crisis facing the country. “Following this, from 2019 onward, we will be able to address injustices through a more flexible, more elastic adjustment plan,” he said, in order to “heal wounds” and create a more accessible environment for businesses.
Prior to the prime minister’s speech, there was a protest by Agios Nikolaos hospital staff and representatives of the civil servants’ union federation ADEDY over the impact of austerity policy on the hospital. They also complained that the coastal road had been cut off when the prime minister’s meetings were taking place.
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