Greece’s new prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, formally takes up the reins yesterday, a day after an election victory that puts him in charge of the EU’s most indebted member with promises to end a decade of economic crisis.

The challenge facing the US-educated conservative is a hefty one as he takes over from defeated leftwing leader Alexis Tsipras, who imposed austerity measures required under a bailout to keep Greece in the eurozone.

The country’s public debt last year stood at 335 billion euros ($376 billion), or 180 percent of GDP. The debt load is forecast to fall to 168 percent of GDP this year, but only under belt-tightening brought in under Tsipras’s Syriza party—something that Mitsotakis’s New Democracy party says is stifling growth.

The 51-year-old Harvard graduate and former McKinsey consultant has pledged to create jobs and get rid of obstacles to business.