The second term of the government is a four-year period during which we must proceed with significant reforms in the state, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Thursday in an interview with ANT1 TV. In the previous period, we essentially corrected the course of the country and dealt with crises. Now, we are dealing with deeper problems and this requires patience, persistence and organisation.
I did not hide that this is the goal of the current four-year period and I will be judged on the effectiveness of our policies at the end of this period, the Greek premier underlined.
Mitsotakis referred to the rise in phenomena related to violence and outlined the government initiatives to address domestic violence.
“This is the battle we are fighting; the changes in police are only one part of the important structural interventions we have to do,” he noted.
Regarding the recent launch of the platform against school bullying, he said: “We need to give children who are being bullied the ability to make a complaint and know that they will do so safely, discreetly and that this incident will really be dealt with.”
Mitsotakis also replied to reports about the way the government handled the train accident in Tempi. He clearly refuted accusations that there was a cover-up effort on the part of the government.
“I am well aware that there were no cover-up efforts … That day we were called upon to manage the greatest tragedy … In Tempi the human error met with long-standing problems of the public administration, something that I never hid.”
Regarding health issues, the problem is not ‘afternoon’ surgeries, he stated. He clarified that the new institution of “afternoon” surgeries does not not concern critical operations, but common surgical operations.
The real problem, he said, concerns buildings, infrastructure and equipment, adding that funds are now channeled towards this direction.
“We need more nurses, we are hiring more nurses,” Mitsotakis underlined and concluded: “The new national health system will be judged in 2027, that is, at the end of the four-year period. Following the planned reforms, citizens will gradually begin to see the change. It won’t be obvious immediately, nor is there some magic solution to change a system that has been under-financed for decades.”
“There is an important progress in Greek-Turkish relations, which I think is welcomed by the great majority of both Greeks and Turks,” the prime minister said in response to a related question.
“For more than 12 months now, we have had no violations. This has never happened again in the past. This is a success. Moreover, migration flows to the islands of the Eastern Aegean have also been reduced,” Mitsotakis said, adding: “We have a closer economic cooperation between the two countries. These are all steps in the right direction.”
However, the prime minister wondered “Have we touched on the very difficult topics? No. Not yet at least. And obviously we achieved all this without retreating a single step from our firm positions.”
Regarding the meeting with the Turkish president, he said: “We want to take another step in the right direction in every meeting. We will see where we can go.
We have nothing to fear from this discussion. We know very well that issues can indeed be resolved if we respect the rules of International Law and especially the Law of the Sea.
We have strong arguments in this direction. However, in order to get to the core of our difference, we need to be able to maintain this good climate for a sufficient period of time and to be able to continuously build, step by step, this normalization of our relations. This is also the purpose of paying a visit to Ankara and President Erdogan in mid-May.”
SOURCE; ANA-MPA
