On anniversary of democracy’s return, Mitsotakis urges ‘bold leaps’ to catch up with EU peers
The past 50 years have been marked by both historic breakthroughs and missed opportunities for Greece, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a parliamentary speech commemorating the anniversary of the restoration of democracy Wednesday, emphasizing that the key national goal must be catching up with more advanced EU states.
“This new era must be one of lessons learned and bold leaps forward,” Mitsotakis said, predicting that Greece will be in better shape by 2027, when the next elections are scheduled to take place.
The conservative premier acknowledged that while Greece has made progress over that period, it has not advanced as much as it should or could have. He pointed out missed opportunities and incomplete necessary changes, lamenting “a state that often settled for its stagnation and governments that frequently shied away from political costs.”
Mitsotakis underscored the importance of converging with the EU average and, citing data, compared Greece to countries that joined the bloc after it. He noted that today an Irish person lives 3.4 times better than their parents did in 1974, a Portuguese 2.3 times better, and a Greek only 1.2 times better.
A military dictatorship that had ruled the country for seven years collapsed on July 24, 1974.
