ATHENS – Marking two years in office after routing the former ruling Radical Left SYRIZA, Prime Minister and New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis said he won't rest on his laurels even as his rivals keep sniping at him.

“I want to maintain for the next two years this sense of emergency, which was imposed on us because of the pandemic. In a sense, the challenges are more exciting,' he told Kathimerini in an interview.

Noting the challenge of trying to spur a recovery from an economy battered by COVID-19 lockdowns, he was confident it would happen despite worries there could be another wave undercutting hopes for a big summer tourism season.

“We have (the money from the European Union's) recovery fund to manage. We have an economy that is very clearly recovering. We have very creative [policy proposals] which we can implement to the benefit of the citizens,” Mitsotakis said.

While the summer is traditionally an off-period for politics, major opposition leader and former premier Alexis Tsipras said he thinks early elections will be called that he will win despite being far behind in surveys.

While Tsipras has criticized Mitsotakis' handling of the pandemic and economy, the Premier has touted his work in both as achievements and noted this is the first time in a decade that Greece hasn't had to have a coalition government.

Mitsotakis insisted the country will not be shut down for a third time because of a majority of unvaccinated people he won't force to be inoculated even month health care worker refuseniks.