Tsipras: General elections a vote of confidence in relief measures for the Greek people

The general election will have the nature of a vote of confidence for the relief and support measures instituted by this government, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said on Thursday, noting that he had revealed this truth to the Greek people a week before the European elections.

In statements outside the Maximos Mansion, Tsipras said the results of the Euroelections had whetted the appetite of Greece's old political establishment and of extremely conservative circles in Brussels, placing obstacles before efforts to support Greek citizens.

Responding to criticism over hirings in the public sector, the SYRIZA leader he said such an issue had not been raised since 2014, when the current main opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis was minister of Administrative Reform with New Democracy (ND).

The Greek people must know the truth, he said, that since Mitsotakis raised the issue of a 1:5 hiring-layoff/retirement ratio in the public sector, as a government SYRIZA managed to change the ratio to 1:1.

Voters must also compare programmes between SYRIZA and ND and be aware that Greece exited the fiscal adjustment (memoranda) programmes due to their own sacrifices, he said. But this does not mean that there is no risk of returning to the gloomy days of 2012, 2013 and 2014 and to the harsh policies of austerity, he warned. The only way to prevent this return to the past is for Greeks to use the power of their vote in general elections on July 7, concluded Tsipras.