SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance wants voters to give it the opportunity to govern for the first time under its own program, without the supervision of Greece's troika of lenders, its leader Alexis Tsipras said in Preveza, NW Greece, on Friday.
"We were the only government that ruled with honesty and without leaving a debt behind it," he said. "Imagine having the opportunity to spend 50 billion euros instead of collecting 40 billion euros," he said of the party's policy program and the past rule under austerity conditions, respectively.
The main opposition leader said his party's commitment was "to support public health and public education, reconstruct the public health system and provide incentives to doctors to stay in Greece." In addition, he said, there is a need to create a public pillar in the Greek banking system. "The first 622 million euros in loans from the Recovery Fund have ended up in 13 businesses of the extremely wealthy who can borrow but now have lower interest rates. At the same time, 96% of Greek businesses cannot even pass by any bank," referring to bankers and the spread between deposits and loans.
Tsipras added, "The high cost of living may be imported, but profiteering is not imported, it has the imprint of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and his government."