ATHENS – Continuing a pre-campaign assault against the ruling New Democracy, major opposition SYRIZA leader and former premier Alexis Tsipras said the government isn’t providing enough support for smaller businesses.

While visiting a family operation in Egaleo, a western Athens neighborhood, he complained about the high cost of energy – without mentioning government subsidies being provided – and banks not offering enough loans.

“We must put an end to profiteering so that employees and small- and medium-sized enterprises can breathe,: Tsipras said in a message after speaking with the owners and the employees at the enterprise, said the state-run Athens-Macedonia News Agency ANA-MPA.

“The high cost of energy is critical while access to financing tools and bank loans very difficult,” he said the owners told him, and that workers said that “their income vanishes before the end of the month due to the high prices.”

He also said that, “The issue is how can incentives be given to other enterprises to thrive and especially to enterprises like your own, which prospered during this difficult period, so that they do not shut down or wither away.”

He added “It is not just energy costs because also other factors that create difficulties. One of them is the financing tools, or the possibility to offer contracts via local administration,  and the Recovery Fund,” Tsipras said.