ATHENS — Οn Wednesday it will be exactly two years since the general elections that led to the formation of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis government, stated government spokesperson Aristotelia Peloni at the start of a press briefing on Monday.

"During this period the country faced serious external challenges, promoted bold progressive reforms and recovered its credibility in Europe and the world, building strong strategic alliances and restoring trust in the Greek economy's prospects. It is ready for a leap of strong and equitable growth. In the specific period, 193 laws were passed in parliament that introduced progressive, institutional and developmental reforms," Peloni said.

"The government, meeting its campaign commitments, initiated a bold reforms policy starting with the tax and social insurance contribution reductions, which will be followed, as the prime minister said, by more reductions."

In two years, Greece went from an observer to helping shape developments in EU and is today recognised as a pillar of stability and security in the turbulent region that surrounds it, she added.

In terms of the epidemiologica condition and the vaccinations, Peloni said that "the downward course of the cases recorded in the last weeks slowed down in the last days. In parallel the presence of Delta variant is expected to prevail in the whole of Europe in the last week and this is something that raises concern. It is however, extremely important the fact that the effectiveness of the fully vaccinated against the variant is extremely high.

In this context and based on the recommendations of the pandemic experts' committee, she said, travel to the islands for persons over 12 will from Monday only be permitted with the display of the required certificates showing that a passenger is either immune or Covid-free. At the same time, she stressed that the new Delta variant meant that vaccination was ultimately the only effective solution:

"The only effective response to the new variant is vaccination, as both scientists and the data confirm that those vaccinated are safe while the unvaccinated are in danger. The only solution for preventing new outbreaks and avoiding new mutations is vaccination."

Peloni said that more than 8.7 million vaccinations have been carried out in Greece, almost five million citizens have done at least their first shot of a vaccine, while over 3.96 million citizens have are fully vaccinated.