TIME tribute to Mitsotakis: The Greek prime minister surprises – He wants his nation to be the comeback of the decade

He legalized same-sex marriage in February—making Greece the first Orthodox Christian country, and practically the only country in the eastern half of Europe, to do so. He took that step despite the ire of the powerful Greek Orthodox Church and lack of support from a third of his own center-right New Democracy party, forcing him to reach across the aisle.

“As a matter of principle, the time had come to do the right thing,” Mitsotakis says.

The legislation has left many with the feeling that Mitsotakis is a different brand of conservative leader. He is socially liberal. Progrowth but fiscally responsible, he says. Tough on migration. Strongly pro-Western and pro-NATO. He thinks he’s found an “interesting sweet spot” and even has a name for it: the “new triangulation.”

It’s a vision, Mitsotakis seems to suggest, that sets him apart from world leaders on both the left and right. Yet he faces headwinds.

He has come under fire for a recent spate of tragedies and missteps. And his main goal now is to bring Greece’s living standards in line with the rest of Europe. For a country that’s second poorest in the E.U., after postcommunist Bulgaria, that’s a tall order.

“There’s a lot of catching up to do,” he concedes.

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Photo cred: Yiorgos Kaplanidis (@kaplanidis) for TIME