ATHENS – Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, speaking at the Stavros Niarchos Cultural Center, said his New Democracy government would go ahead with a 2.5-billion euro ($2.8-billion) program to fund development projects and add 40,000 jobs.

Moving toward restarting the economy as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to wind down after a lockdown halted most activity and kept people at home, Mitsotakis said the Antonis Tritsis program, named after the late visionary socialist politician and urban planner, will focus "on the creation of jobs and better quality of life for all," said Kathimerini.

Details of what it would entail and how it would work weren’t given but he said that, “It is the compass that will help local administration become again a lever to restart of the economy. At the same time, it is a pillar of the national strategic plan for the 21st Century." 

Access to the program will be digital to ensure the integrity of the procedures, he added.

Mitsotakis said the project focuses on "growth, environment and social cohesion," as well as digital convergence and improvement of the quality of life but didn’t clarify what it meant.

Before the pandemic struck this year he had pushed for the start of the long-delayed 8-billion euro ($8.97-billion) development of the abandoned Hellenikon International Airport site stymied by the former ruling anti-business Radical Left SYRIZA's 4 1/2-year reign.