The great national issue is "the reversal of the impoverishment and divergence process with an economy that is based solely on tourism and real estate," former prime minister Alexis Tsipras said during an intervention at an event of his eponymous Institute on Tuesday evening.

The Alexis Tsipras Institute held a one-day conference at the Piraeus Municipal Theater on "The price crisis - challenges and prospects of the Greek economy".

Tsipras said that "the new national target for Greece - corresponding to EU accession in '70 and '80, becoming a member of the eurozone of '90, and the exit from the crisis in '10 - should be the acceleration of convergence under terms of social cohesion and justice, under terms of inclusivity of working-class levels that were the ones offering their support to keep the country standing."

"There should be a clash with large interests, in order to guarantee health competition and a reduction in inequalities," he said, explaining that this could be achieved through fair taxation of great wealth high incomes, a reversal of the direct and indirect ratio of taxes, and managing tax evasion. It would also need a banking sector that supports innovation and small and medium-sized enterprises instead of reproducing clientelistic practices or supporting oligopolies, and with the creation of an energy market outside of the stock market where prices would be formulated through bilateral contracts, as the rest of Europe does, not four companies that control and raise prices. Further development of energy communities that would substantially reduce prices would also help, he said.

The former prime minister also referred to developments within SYRIZA and the center left and warned that "if today's imbalance in the political system is not restored to the left, the danger is it will be restored even further to the right, as seen happening in a series of European countries with the rise of the far right. "The only comforting and essentially hopeful sign is that something is starting to move slowly. Not at the political opposition side - there, 'Nobody' continues to lead all polls - but in terms of social opposition," Tsipras said, referring to the response of the poll question of "Who, in your opinion, is the best leader?".

He added that no reform plan would be implemented without first expressing and mobilizing the majority of Greek society. 

"Greece needs immediately a great developmenet shock, equal to corresponding ones in the Trikoupis and Venizelos eras, in order not to miss the opportunity of convergence. The implementation of a National Restructure Plan must become a top priority, looking ahead to 2030," Tsipras said. This plan should be for a country with correct and transparent use of European resources, reforms in public administration, justice, education, and shoring up of institutions, and with a sustainable plan of public and private investments, particularly in infrastructure, human resources, and the National Health System.