Greece “turned a page in 2019″, it overcame several successive crises even after it emerged exhausted by more than four years of populism, yet the ND government never abandoning promised reforms, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Friday, in opening a congress of his ruling New Democracy (ND) party.

Mitsotakis ticked off what he called his center-right government’s achievements during the address at the Metropolitan Expo venue near the Athens International Airport. The “populism” reference in this case was aimed at the previous radical leftist government – propped up by a small right-wing coalition partner – under Alexis Tsipras.

In particular, Mitsotakis cited this week’s urgent measures to deflect skyrocketing electricity bills plaguing businesses and households.

“We endured several crises, from Evros and the Aegean to the Covid-19 pandemic and the energy crisis; we must unite citizens under a common sense of security,” the ND leader said, referring initially to an attempt by Turkey to funnel thousands of third country nationals across the land border in Evros Prefecture in March 2020 and followed by particularly bellicose and aggressive maneuvers by the Turkish military later that summer in the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean.

He also underlined the improvement in the economy, as he said, with growth concluding at 8.3 percent in 2021, the third best performance in Europe, whereas unemployment dropped by 4 percentage points. He also pointed to the early repayment of IMF loans extended to Greece.

“Despite constant crises, we’re consistently implementing everything we have pledged,” Mitsotakis said.

He calculated foreign investment in the country as exceeded 5.5 billion euros since 2019, while and credit agencies continue to upgrade Greece’s ratings, even “midst an unprecedented storm.”

Cyprus Republic President Nicos Anastasiades also addressed congress participants.

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