PM Mitsotakis in Megalopolis: Future investments will help region deal with phasing out lignite dependency

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis conversed with local residents at the central square of Megalopolis, a major electricity-producing center, on Friday.

The premier visited the central Peloponnesian city as part of his tour of the regions of Argolid, Arcadia and Messinia.

As the country is preparing for elections on May 21, Mitsotakis said that he kept his promise to complete the four-year term of New Democracy’s government without calling snap elections. “We are entering this pre-electoral time with the full confidence of a party that has honored the agreement of truth we ‘signed’ with Greek men and women in July 2019.”

Mitsotakis underlined that if elected again, his government will pay even greater attention to the regions facing uncertainty due to the gradual phasing out of lignite mining following the EU’s green transition program. Megalopolis and Ptolemaida (in western Macedonia) have historically relied heavily on an economy of lignite-fired electricity production plants. Both these regions “have secured the maximum possible subsidies and financing,” he noted, therefore “Megalopolis is bound to attract other types of investors who will come here.”

Finally, Mitsotakis said that farmers and livestock breeders will see their costs reduced by the use of photovoltaic panels, “to become even more competitive.”

The premier also said that at 11:00 on Saturday he would visit Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou to request that parliament be dissolved in preparation for elections.

Source: amna.gr