The North Aegean development program to 2030 was revealed by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on the island of Lesvos late on Friday morning.

Over 340 projects and interventions budgeted at 1.9 billion euros are included in the project that Mitsotakis said will target the upgrading of road, port, and airport infrastructure at the North Aegean Islands, the largest of which include Chios, Limnos, Lesvos, and Samos. Migration and security are also a priority, the PM said, which will include 200 million euros for migrantion centers. 

Residents will also be compensated for natural catastrophes, said Mitsotakis, while more teachers will be hired and hospitals upgraded and expanded in Mitilini (on Lesvos), Chios, and Samos.

Other projects include construction of the Tsiknias dam on Lesvos and of Kori-Gefyri on Chios, electricity projects to upgrade energy infrastructure, waste management projects, and funding of six research institutions. Private investments will also be facilitated through the new development law, with 14.8 million euros foreseen for agrofood-related investments and 36.03 million euros for support of tourism investments.

Mitsotakis also spoke extensively about Moria, the migration reception and identification facility that "resembles in no way the pictures we have experienced," referring to the migration overflows at the facility from the previous government. 

"Today, the space has been essentially returned to the municipality, private assets have been restored to their rightful owners and Moria today is a pastoral landscape with olives that will soon become an educational and cultural center with guaranteed funding, supporting the university, among others."

Specific details of the development program were presented by the ministers and heads of agencies accompanying the prime minister to Lesvos.

Arrest of ethnic Greek candidate

PM Mitsotakis had earlier referred to the arrest of ethnic Greek Dionysis-Fredi Beleri, running for mayor of Himare in Albania, on suspicion of voter bribery. He was temporarily released, while Greece had filed a demarche on the issue.

Mitsotakis said, "I want to convey a message to our friend, Albania: Greece will not accept any compromises on rule of law or on the protection of the Greek ethnic minority's rights."

If Albania wants to approach the European Union, he said, "it must guarantee free and just municipal elections, and directly free those it has jailed, in order to participate in the electoral process." 

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