Athens needs to become a 'liveable' city again, says ND's candidate for mayor

"Athens needs a lot of hard work, planning and a target-oriented strategy" in order to become "liveable" once more, New Democracy's candidate for mayor of the Greek capital said on Friday.

"There are no magicians or wands," Costas Bakoyannis, who is currently regional governor of Central Greece, where he had previously served as mayor of the town of Karpenissi, told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency in an interview.

The 41-year-old conservative candidate in the May 26 elections said that he has drafted an eight-year plan for transforming Athens, which contains "clear timelines and proposals that have been fully cost-assessed."

On the issue of sanitation and cleanliness, an area where the Greek capital has often fallen short, the conservative candidate did not rule out the privatization of some services and assured that the municipal authority will be given "all...