Nikos Androulakis began his tour of Evrytania with a meeting with representatives from the municipalities of Karpenisi and Agrafa, according to a related announcement.
The President of PASOK-Movement for Change placed particular emphasis on the demographic problem affecting this region of our country and identified as a central priority of the party’s government program the pursuit of European funds to finance the infrastructure required for the Greek periphery.
“The permanent population is leaving areas with high development, such as the islands, because they cannot afford the high cost of living. However, the population is also leaving areas that lag behind in development. We must find a balance to achieve fair and sustainable regional development. Greece is neither Denmark nor the Netherlands. On the contrary, it has a challenging geography that requires high infrastructure costs.
“If you honor us with your trust, a critical issue is to negotiate resources for the infrastructure the country needs,” Mr. Androulakis emphasized.
“The issues of mountainous and island regions must be at the core of the country’s negotiations regarding European programs and funds for regional development that we must implement. If we fail, the demographic situation will be the major economic and social time bomb in the coming years.
For us, regional development issues are a priority. It is a matter of national importance to achieve demographic rebalancing and a rational distribution of the population. This cannot happen with just two large urban centers, where people are not even doing well, as rents and the high cost of living are eating into their incomes,” added Mr. Androulakis.
Furthermore, the PASOK President addressed the problems facing the agricultural and livestock sectors.
“Current production costs were not at this prohibitive level in previous years. I am referring mainly to energy. Never before have the ministry’s regulatory mechanisms collapsed. 700,000 animals have been culled across Greece due to animal diseases,” he emphasized, making the recovery of the primary sector a priority.
“Take the example of the young farmers’ programs: 18,000 young people applied in previous years to the respective programs. Today we have just 6,000 applications, and they have not yet been funded,” he noted, emphasizing the link between tourism and the primary sector.