The islanders he meets on his tour of the Aegean "feel they are second- and third-class citizens," SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance Stefanos Kasselakis told Athens 9.84 radio station on Friday.
In brief statements, he said "they feel isolated half the year, they feel that nobody has provided solutions or incentives to support hospitals, they feel there are regional injustices."
The main opposition leader pointed out that he had toured the border islands of the East Aegean again last year (2023) between the two elections, and that this time his tour took in more islands. The main issue, he underlined, was decentralization.
Asked to comment on the upcoming European elections (June 9), Kasselakis said there was a "trend in society for a positive outcome in elections, but the point is to change the country." Greeks, he said, "should be able to live with dignity, be able to prosper in their own home place, be able to overcome high prices that very much afflict our islands' residents," he added.
"People are suffering, they do not live in the 'paradise' the government likes to speak of. This is underlined by Eurostat, and the Financial Times have said so," Kasselakis said.