Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras turned to his ministers and stressed the difficulty of their work, characteristically stating “we need to bleed.” He then emphasized the four priorities – in the very broad sense — of his radical left, and very slightly rightist government:

* a return to dignity for all citizens
* the support of the economy
* renegotiating the Greek debt
* getting rid of corruption

Tsipras made specific reference to the priorities of the government, which include dealing with the “humanitarian crisis”, a pre-election catchphrase repeatedly employed by the leftist party, before turning to what he called the reclaiming the Greek people’s dignity, restoring social justice and moving forward with reforms.

Underlining that the government has a difficult task, Tsipras noted that the people have high expectations. More specifically, he said that although the people don’t expect the government to change everything in the economy in a single day, they expect radical changes in justice and transparency.

The new Premier reiterated there are no winners and losers and that he will pursue broader political consensus. He also said the result of the elections had a strong international impact, and opined that the international climate is beginning to change.

The Prime Minister also referred to his upcoming meetings with Martin Schulz who is visiting Athens on Thursday and Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem who is coming on Friday.

He concluded his speech by stating that his government would be one of “national salvation”. He made it clear that the government had no right to quash the hopes of the Greek people and make good on its pledges.

The core 15-membered cabinet plans to meet every week, without deputy and alternate ministers and undersecretaries.