Main opposition New Democracy (ND) leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis used his May Day message on Wednesday to unequivocally deny that he's in favor of abolishing the so-called "13th" and "14" salaries for private wage-earners in the country, a claimed played up by the ruling SYRIZA party over recent weeks as Greece enters into a pre-election period.
Mitsotakis, whose center-right party is given a wide lead over hard left SYRIZA by all mainstream opinion polls, was referring to an extra monthly salary paid before the Christmas/New Year's holiday and another month's worth divided in half - the first half paid out before Easter, and the second half when a wage-earner goes on vacation.
In an interview with the Athens-based Ant1 channel, Mitsotakis said the claim by his main political rivals was "fake news".
At the same time, and in more pro-labor position, Mitsotakis said the minimum monthly salary in Greece should increase at a rate of twice the annual GDP hike.
Taking another swipe at the government and ruling SYRIZA, he added: "It (SYRIZA) said so many lies when it knew it would win the elections, now that it's losing wouldn't it say even more?"
He also stayed "on message" by again charging that the Tsipras government has "demolished" the middle classes in the country with high taxes and excessive fiscal targets, and only recently revisited promises to reduce taxes.
