One week before the Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF), Kyriakos Mitsotakis, speaking from Kozani, put the political dilemma on the table: on one side, he said, is New Democracy (ND), representing “stability and progress,” and on the other are parties whose common denominator is that “New Democracy and Mitsotakis must leave,” without a plan for what comes next.

Alongside this political message, he also pointed toward Thessaloniki. There, as he announced, he will present in one week not only the government’s economic plan for the coming year, but also its roadmap through 2030.

“New Democracy is the only political force that guarantees both stability and progress,” the prime minister said, turning his criticism toward the opposition: “Opposing us are parties whose one mission is for New Democracy and Mitsotakis to leave.”

As he added, this is being done “without a plan, as if the country could be governed with some kind of magic plan.”

He insisted on the government’s record of credibility, noting that “citizens have both memory and judgment” and will recognize that New Democracy can “keep the country at the helm during very difficult geopolitical times and guarantee every Greek woman and every Greek man a much better future.”

TIF, the Government’s Record and 2030

Kyriakos Mitsotakis described this year’s TIF as something more than the customary economic event held each September.

“TIF is an opportunity to conduct a fair assessment of what we have achieved, how consistent we have been with our commitments, but also to talk about the future,” he said.

At the same time, he outlined the principle that will guide the economic component of his announcements: “To help society, we must stand on solid foundations. To be able to distribute wealth to citizens, we must first create it. That is our difference from the other parties.”

The goal, he emphasized, is for “the overall prosperity of the economy to reach every citizen, in every corner of the country.”

The Challenge for Western Macedonia

The prime minister acknowledged that the phase-out of lignite has dramatically changed the region, but argued that since 2019 the necessary resources have been secured to ensure an orderly transition with a specific objective: to create more jobs than those that were lost.

“The final employment balance will be positive,” he said, adding that the skepticism of previous years has begun to give way to “cautious optimism.”

“We want citizens to stay here, young people to have prospects and employment opportunities,” he said.

He also sent a separate message regarding the role of PPC (Public Power Corporation): “PPC is absolutely intertwined with Western Macedonia. PPC is not abandoning the region; rather, it is ensuring development in Western Macedonia.”

Kyriakos Mitsotakis estimated, moreover, that the situation in the region will be noticeably better in a year, maintaining that the ultimate impact of the transition will be more jobs, not fewer.