Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has returned to Greece and is heading back out on the road, visiting Attica and the regions as the country enters the final stretch of a long pre-election period. He chaired the first coordination meetings at Maximos Mansion, the prime minister’s office, on Monday.

Mitsotakis will visit Aspropyrgos, in West Attica, on Tuesday. He will begin at the new building housing the town’s 4th Junior High School, before meeting Mayor Giannis Ilias and talking to residents. He will not stay within Attica for long. On Friday he is expected to travel to Pieria, in northern Greece, where the visit coincides with the recognition of Mount Olympus by UNESCO.

The two destinations have much in common. Both are working-class areas facing considerable difficulties as a hard winter approaches. In Pieria, New Democracy is losing ground to parties on its right, and in several parts of West Attica support is also reported to be leaking to the right of the governing party as the cost of living continues to bite.

Mitsotakis is expected to signal the government’s plans from Tuesday for announcements on Wednesday, when fuel support measures are due to be extended by two weeks. The package will then be updated in mid-October to cover heating oil. According to reports, Mitsotakis will set the overall tone at Wednesday’s cabinet meeting, with the finance team following up with the detail.

Sources say the prime minister made one point clear to his aides from the outset. The emphasis can fall on income support for now, alongside the measures announced in Thessaloniki, but the country’s fiscal balance must not be put at risk under any circumstances. In such a fluid situation, he has told them, reserves should be kept back and support announced in stages, with the situation reviewed regularly.

Another aim of the tours is to restore discipline to the government’s message, which has been muddied in recent days by missteps from senior New Democracy figures. The most prominent came from Deputy Foreign Minister Haris Theocharis, who spoke of “prudent” households and “hapless” ones.

The matter was discussed at Monday’s morning coffee meeting at Maximos Mansion, where officials voiced concern over the mood the remarks had created while Mitsotakis was in the United States. Theocharis retracted the comment in an interview with Alpha 98.9 radio, describing it as poorly worded. Government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis then distanced himself from the remark, calling it an ill-judged expression.

Marinakis also set out what he called the spirit of the discussion, saying the government serves all Greeks and that its policies are aimed at supporting citizens, with an emphasis on the middle class and the most financially vulnerable.

The episode again showed how easily Maximos Mansion can be caught out by rows that seem minor at first. Left unaddressed early on, they grow into larger problems that touch the party’s relationship with its traditional voters. That is a concern for many in the party at a time when a new party being formed by former prime minister Antonis Samaras hovers in the background, aiming to speak for what it sees as the authentic identity of the conservative camp.