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Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has offered voters a “new contract” with a goal of growing at least twice as fast as the rest of the eurozone. He made the pledge in an interview with The Wall Street Journal ahead of elections due in 2027.

“That is the way to further bring down unemployment, to increase wages, and to increase disposable income. And of course, this growth has to be driven by investment,” he told the newspaper’s Gordon Fairclough.

Mitsotakis said Greece lost 25% of its GDP during a decade of austerity. It now grows faster than the eurozone average, runs primary surpluses and cuts its debt faster than any other OECD country, he said. It also borrows “at a lower interest rate than 4 out of the 7 G7 countries”.

He admitted that wages were still “relatively low” and that the high cost of living was Greeks’ “number one concern”. “There is no magical solution,” he said. He added that the government could offer targeted support without resorting to austerity.

He blamed the former SYRIZA government, which he said “teamed up with the hard right”, for having “unnecessarily prolonged the crisis by 4 years”.

“The real dilemma for the next elections is realistic hope versus experimentation, especially at a time when you need stability,” he said.

Asked about France, he said its next government would need to cut the deficit. His advice was: “If you are in a position to implement austerity measures, make sure you do them early in your mandate.”

On rising prices, he said: “It’s not going to knock us off our path. The fiscal balance is going to be preserved.”