Handover ceremony at the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport

“I want to assure that, with the renewal of the confidence of the Prime Minister Mr. Kyriakos Mitsotakis, we will continue the hard work, to improve the daily life of the citizens and to deliver modern and durable projects to the society, on time and with respect to the backlog taxpayer” stated Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Christos Staikouras during the handing over ceremony by the outgoing Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, responsible for Transport, Christina Alexopoulou to the new deputy minister Vassilis Oikonomou.

The Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Christos Staikouras, after thanking Ms. Christina Alexopoulou, welcomed Mr. Vassilis Oikonomou and wished him success in his work.

“We welcome Vassilis Oikonomou with whom I have always had a constructive cooperation in the party and I am sure that this perfect cooperation will continue. As I had with Christina Alexopoulou, whose contribution to the Ministry of Transport was decisive, such as in the renewal of the bus fleet with new electric ones, in the development of electric mobility with the program “Moving Electric 3″, in Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans and in the management number of requests from Transport industry bodies. We promise that we will continue the hard work to deliver modern and durable projects to society on time and with respect for the tax payer’s backlog” pointed out the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Christos Staikouras.

The outgoing Deputy Minister of Transport Christina Alexopoulou with her strong emotion evident, she emphasized, among other things: “I thank Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Christos Staikouras, Nikos Tahiaos, Yiannis Xifaras and also Mr. Magoulas for this strong team we had built and I welcome Vassilis Oikonomou”.

“After 1 year in the leadership of the Transport sector, today I am handing over to my good colleague Mr. Vassilis Oikonomou, the broad and complex tasks that accompany it. Over the past 12 months, we have worked intensively and methodically to carry out the mission assigned to us by the Prime Minister, speeding up the implementation of many projects and promoting a series of reforms.

Sustainable Urban Mobility, electrification, road safety, renewal of the transport fleet in Athens and Thessaloniki, strengthening of the co-capital’s urban transport, railways, micro-mobility, green transport. digitization and transparency, are areas in which this Ministry has brought results, which are visible in the daily life of citizens”, said Ms. Alexopoulou.

Closing her speech she said “I will continue to work with full dedication to my duties, honoring the trust of the President, the party and the Achaean citizens who trusted me with their vote, 1 year ago”.

THE new Deputy Minister of Transport Mr. Vassilis Oikonomou emphasized: “It is a great satisfaction and honor for me that Kyriakos Mitsotakis assigned me such an important role in the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport. My new position is an opportunity for me to offer to the country and the people. At the same time, I consider myself lucky to now belong to a team led by Christos Staikouras, whom I appreciate. I am saddened to be succeeding Christina who has demonstrated an important work and above all listened to the MPs. The world has many problems. Everyday life is unbearable at times and puts pressure on all of us. We will be close to the citizen, the worker here at the Ministry, but also outside, so that together we can provide solutions to everyday life, to every little problem. I don’t know if we will save Greece. At least let’s be as useful as possible for the issues that concern the citizen in everyday life. I don’t know if this is a very ambitious policy. But, I want to believe that when I hand over, I will be remembered in a good way.”

The Deputy Minister of Infrastructure, Nikos Tachiaos, during the handover ceremony, thanked the Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, for his decision “to remain a member of this group under Christos Staikouras, to maintain the Infrastructure portfolio in the Ministry. I do not use the word team by chance, because what is characteristic of Christos Staikouras is that in this Ministry we work as a team. Christina is leaving the team but I appreciate her very much. We worked together and I want to point out that Christina is a decent person who works for the public. On the other hand, I welcome Vassilis Oikonomou, whom I do not know, since I am not a member of parliament, but I am aware of his work to date”.

And he concluded “We are here, because we have a mandate of responsibility towards the Greek people and in which obviously our Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has the main say. We, based on the principles he has set, will continue unwavering. We all agree that we owe it to the vote of the Greek people to follow the path that has only one outcome: success”