Political tensions on rise

Political tensions are expected to gradually peak over the next two weeks in the countdown to local authority and European Parliament elections as Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras seeks to wring maximum gain from the relief measures he heralded last week and conservative leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis stresses the government's shortfalls.
A particularly vehement exchange between the two leaders in Parliament last Wednesday, though tempered by more civilized discourse on Friday, appeared to set the tone for what promises to be an acrimonious pre-election period.
Tsipras, whose leftist SYRIZA is still trailing ND in opinion polls, told reporters last Friday, after securing another confidence vote, that relief measures for 2019 would be approved in Parliament this week.
The premier, who indicated on Saturday that further handouts could be announced later this year, is counting...