Thessaloniki aims to Thessaloniki to become a European city, aware of its history, the city’s mayor, Stelios Angeloudis, speaking to Direct and Giorgos Eugenidis.

“There is no Athens-Thessaloniki dichotomy and there is no co-capital,” he points out, wanting to exorcise the perpetuation of the stereotype that the “Athens-centric state” oversees Thessaloniki. But he also calls on the central administration to give the country’s second-largest city the resources it deserves.

Angeloudis says Thessaloniki is changing its face with major projects. He stresses that the metro has reduced the traffic burden by 15% and its expansion will be positive, and emphasizes that the combination of the metro with the Flyover and the improvement in urban transport will give a big boost.

He explains how he has succeeded in reducing the litter problem in the city centre, and advocates for restrictions on Airbnb in central city apartments, along the lines of bans on new short-term rentals in downtown Athens apartments.

He also stresses that cleanliness and day-to-day projects have no partisan color and argues that the mayor should do the mayor’s job, not get involved in centralized politics. He also explains his proposal for the TIF, with its stay in the center of Athens, but also the need to create a metropolitan green park that will coexist with a modern exhibition center.