Tsipras lays out five-priority plan targeting energy costs and red mortgages, accusing Mitsotakis of breaking every rule
The ex-premier used a business forum in Athens to detail a cost-of-living package and to push back at the prime minister’s claim that voters “took his driving licence” in three elections.
Five immediate priorities
Alexis Tsipras, leader of the progressive alliance EΛΑΣ, presented a fully costed five-point plan at the 7th OT Forum in Athens on 12 June. He placed energy affordability at the top. Citing official figures that put Greece alongside Bulgaria at the bottom of the EU rankings with 19.2% energy poverty, he proposed that the Public Power Corporation (ΔEH) change its role to steer competition in favour of consumers. A guaranteed minimum quantity of electricity at a fixed, affordable price would, he said, cut household and business bills by an average of 30%.
We have found a way to ensure there is a minimum guaranteed quantity of electricity at a stable, affordable price for households and businesses, so that on average the cost on bills falls by 30%.
The second plank is a state body to manage housing loans and housing policy. All unused public real estate would be transferred to it, and an agreement would be struck with the funds that bought non-performing loans cheaply. Borrowers could buy back their debt at a fraction of current demands, or the properties would be turned into social housing instead of being auctioned.
Tsipras then pledged free public transport in Athens and Thessaloniki for everyone except tourists – a measure he described as having minimal fiscal cost but “multiple developmental, social and environmental value.” He also proposed abolishing the nationwide university-entry exam system and placing school teachers and university professors on a special salary scale, together with raising the wages of doctors and nurses.
Ten years ago, in ’15, I knew what I wanted to do but not how. Now I know both the what and the how.
The driving-licence exchange
A lively exchange followed Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s remark in an ANT1 interview the previous evening that voters had “taken away Tsipras’s driving licence three times.” The former prime minister retorted that licences are revoked only when rules are broken, not when elections are lost.
If someone cannot drive even a scooter, it is Mr Mitsotakis. He has made Greece a permanent client of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, he has handed out public money to cronies through no-bid contracts, and he has manipulated the justice system to cover up major cases such as the Tempi tragedy.
Tsipras added that he governed for nearly five years without violating democratic norms, while Mitsotakis “hasn’t left a single rule unbroken.” He warned that the next election will not be a walkover and predicted a close contest.
The electoral dilemma
Tsipras reframed the political choice, arguing the real dilemma is “stagnation or progress, corruption or integrity.” He dismissed the government’s “success story” as a stagnation at 2019 levels or even worse, pointing to deteriorating competitiveness and investment indicators. In his telling, 97% of citizens believe corruption is widespread and 70% want political change.
## Transparency pledge He also promised to deploy artificial intelligence to flag irregularities in public procurement. Every direct award and every anomaly would trigger a red flag, removing the possibility of fraud. “We live in the digital age,” he said, “and it is impossible to have this opacity that dominates our country.” The mechanism, he insisted, already exists but lacks political will.What we have lived through for seven years is the same method, the same medicine that led us to bankruptcy. I am here to unsettle those who say there is no alternative.
