Main opposition New Democracy (ND) president Kyriakos Mitsotakis promised a “return to normalcy” and an emphasis on attracting investments to the recession-battered country, speaking on Wednesday from a large tract of state-owned land on the island of Rhodes that was previously slated to host a 300-million-euro project.
The investment at the Afantou site nevertheless fizzled out after the SYRIZA-led government assumed power in January 2015 when the entire expanse was declared an “archaeological zone”.
Mitsotakis said the Afantou project was pushed through by a previous ND government, only to collapse when the culture ministry, under the Tsipras government, suddenly changed the site’s designation.
The ND leader toured Rhodes and the nearby isle of Symi on Wednesday and Thursday, on the occasion of the 71st anniversary of the Dodecanese islands’ annexation by Greece after WWII.
