SALONIKA (AFP) -- Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis appealed for a fresh four-year mandate in next weekend's legislative elections saying he had steered the economy to new heights.

""As a result of our economic policy, Greece has notched up one of the highest growth rates in the eurozone for three consecutive years...and over 200,000 jobs have been created,"" Karamanlis said at the 72nd annual international fair in Salonika.
""There is still much that needs to be done, much that needs to change...Greece needs a government that can take quick decisions in order to move forward with determination,"" he said, asking voters to give him a new term in next Sunday's legislative elections.
Karamanlis set out the ruling conservative party's electoral platform, promising to place greater emphasis on tackling poverty, promoting transparency and completing an overhaul of Greece's cumbersome bureaucracy if re-elected.
He also announced property tax breaks and pledged full support to Greeks who lost their livelihood last month in a swathe of fires that killed at least 66 people around the country and destroyed hundreds of homes.
""The state will do whatever it takes, for as long as it takes, to fully heal the wounds of the fiery inferno,"" he said.
An even greater challenge will be to bolster Greece's creaking pensions system, where an ageing population -- a problem compounded by a rock bottom birth rate -- is placing an increasing strain on public finances.
""We will move towards solving the pension system issue,"" Karamanlis said.
The last government to take on the issue were the socialists almost a decade ago. A storm of protests from labor groups forced them to abandon the effort.
Some 2,000 police were mobilized in Salonika to secure order during the fair's opening weekend ahead of planned demonstrations by labor unions and leftists.
Karamanlis called for early elections in mid-August -- before the destructive fire inferno -- to push forward ""with changes and reforms for a more efficient state, a stronger economy and more social cohesion.""
Heading into the polls on September 16, the ruling New Democracy party had a slim lead of between 0.3 percent and 2.0 percent according to final opinion surveys published before an embargo on August 31.
No opinion polls can be published two weeks before elections.
But fallout from the fires, and dissatisfaction with the government's fiscal and education policies that prompted large protests in recent months, could see voters turning to smaller parties on the left and right.
Elections were originally scheduled to be held in March 2008.
Of particular concern to New Democracy is LAOS, a small nationalist party led by one of its former MPs that could attract up to four percent of voters.
The leader of the main opposition socialist Pasok party, George Papandreou, has accused Karamanlis of reneging on a 2004 manifesto which placed emphasis on tackling corruption.
A series of graft scandals quickly grounded the conservatives after their election three years ago, the most recent involving several social insurance funds that lost millions buying allegedly overpriced bonds