ATHENS – Despite surveys giving his New Democracy an unassailable lead over rivals, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is reportedly looking at shaking up a creeping complacency in the party at the Thessaloniki International Fair.

The Conservatives have more than double the votes of its newest major opposition, the PASOK Socialists, who in two recent polls have leaped over the struggling SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance, although the leaders of both are facing challenges.

High prices, including a Value Added Tax (VAT) up to 24 percent on food he said can’t be cut despite soaring revenues and tourism, and lingering effect of  complaints of alleged cover ups over spying on citizens and a deadly train wreck have cut into his popularity.

Media reports said that Mitsotakis, in his second term, is set to look more closely at the problems of households after focusing attention on restoring the economy, going after investors and using Golden Visas to attract rich foreigners – who bought up apartments and homes and put them on short-rental platforms.

That has driven residents out of whole neighborhoods in Athens, dried up the market of housing and driven up rents and home purchase prices at the same time banks’ conditions for getting loans and mortgages has become stricter.

New Democracy got almost 41 percent of the vote in 2023 elections that saw him rout the major rival SYRIZA a second straight time but that fell precipitously to 28.31 percent in the June elections for the European Parliament.

The Prime Minister also is reportedly going to outline plans to improve the National Health System where public hospitals have a shortage of doctors, staff and even some basic equipment and goods – including toilet paper and toilet seats.

He also wants to improve mass transport and the country’s infrastructure that hasn’t been upgraded in many places for years, or decades, to restore support for the party and further fend off SYRIZA and the rising PASOK Socialists.

The unemployed are expected to receive smaller benefits as joblessness – which was the highest in the European Union during a 2010-18 economic and austerity crisis, and almost 50 percent for those 15-24, has fallen below 10 percent.

Mitsotakis said he’s aware of the grumbling among voters even as SYRIZA leader Stefanos Kasselakis has accused him of having the arrogance of power and being out of touch with the needs of citizens and residents.

The government also revised plans to put presumptive taxes on freelancers and the self-employed although the state tax department said those sectors reported an average income of just 268 euros ($296.22) monthly, an unlivable income.