Mitsotakis: “The vaccine against corovirus is the New Year’s gift of 2021”

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis stressed that in a year of particular difficulties Greece stood up and made special reference to Greek-Turkish.
Detailed the Prime Minister’s New Year’s message: “In a moment, we are leaving behind a year full of unprecedented difficulties. By its beginnings, the country had overcome economic and social fixation and was moving forward united.
But then the pandemic that still besieged the entire planet broke out, while our country was called upon to manage many simultaneous fronts: the explosion of migratory waves. The health and economic consequences of corovirus. And, of course, turbulence in the field of our national issues.
In the face of all this, Greece has stood up. In Evros, she secured her borders. In the Aegean, she protected and relieved her islands. In the Eastern Mediterranean, she guarded her rights.
And, at the same time, it shielded everyone’s life and income. Boldly but also without discounts on the principles of democracy and the rules of parliamentaryism. At the turn of the year, then, we have the resources to transform the 2020 experience into strength for 2021. 
This year we celebrate differently: At home, with our family, closing the door on the virus. Because the cases are receding, but the dangers lurk. And, despite months of fatigue, it would be unfair for a few moments of relaxation to tear down what we have built up to date.
“The vaccine, the passport to a better life”
After all, the passport to a better life is already here: The vaccine is our shield and the baton of health that the new year receives from the old one that leaves.
Now, therefore, is the time to maturely cross the bridge between the end of the war with the coronavirus and the beginning of the battle for progress. But a bridge that hides traps. That’s why we have to go through it slowly and steadily.
Thus, the restrictions will be maintained as long as they are not complied with. Because measures only work when people don’t betray them. And they will be phased out as confidence becomes more concentrated. With priority always the opening of our schools.
My fellow citizens,
The vaccine against Covid is the New Year’s gift of 2021. And our counter-donor will be his universal acceptance. Because it means self-protection but also solidarity with our loved ones.
The precaution of each does not allow reservation by anyone. Freedom of denial cannot be denied. And the longer the vaccination progresses, the more the corovirus will subside.
I vaccinated myself quickly, easily and safely. In fact, seeing personally the ability of our doctors and nurses, I call on you with greater fervor to trust them, facilitating their work until the end of this great test.
“We are now in the epilogue of adventure”
Because the lookout for a new resurgence of the pandemic remains. And the mask, like all protective measures, will continue to accompany us until the vaccination process is complete.
But we are now in the epilogue of adventure. And that must arm us with new power. The state will continue to take care of society and support the economy. And the new year will definitely become a year of freedom.
This, after all, is the title of the national outing that is evolving for our definitive discharge from Covid-19. But also the essence of celebrating the two centuries of our independence.
In 2021, then, it will be dense, closing old wounds and opening up new horizons. It completes 200 years of national progress. It completes 40 years of European experience. And it ushers in a new decade of prosperity.
Just as the Greeks met with the great currents of national states, democracy and the rule of law, so now we must listen to the message of our own times: Development for all with dynamism, extroversion and respect for the environment.
We now know well the strength of our unity: without it we would not have succeeded, neither in the pandemic and the economy, nor in our defence. Now, this unity becomes the common path to the great goals.
We also know that the crisis can become an opportunity: the new NHS, the digital state, the powerful Armed Forces declare it. None of this was self-evident. And yet, now it’s yesterday’s experiences that set off the country’s future.
My fellow citizens,
2021 is up to us to become the “Year of the Greeks”. The link that unites the victories of the ancestors with the successes of the descendants. And the road that will be transformed into an avenue for the new Greece. It is therefore worth welcoming him with optimism and confidence in our strengths.
Happy Birthday to every Greek and every Greek. With health and good care.”