Four days before the opening of the last Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF) before the national elections, the Mitsotakis government is moving to reshape the political landscape against its rivals, sharpening its attacks on PASOK and the Greek Police (ELAS). At the same time, it is shifting tactics toward Antonis Samaras and the potential new party he may found — not only refusing to leave unanswered the statements made by his associates — most recently Mr. Tsioutsias — but moving onto a full counteroffensive.
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Why the Prime Minister’s office wants the “Mitsotakis or Tsipras” binary choice
When it comes to Alexis Tsipras’ party, Maximos Mansion — the official seat of the Greek Prime Minister — regards him as a preferred opponent heading into the election campaign. The “Mitsotakis or Tsipras” dynamic for the premiership is seen as one that clearly favors the incumbent Prime Minister. This strategy is set to continue tomorrow, when sharp criticism is expected from the government camp targeting the National Plan for Economic and Productive Reconstruction that Mr. Tsipras is due to present in Thessaloniki.
ND-PASOK rivalry intensifies ahead of the TIF
With regard to PASOK, however, the objective is different — centered on New Democracy’s drive to dominate the center of the political spectrum and to position itself, heading into the national elections, as the only party that truly represents the so-called “front of reason.”
This offensive began last week, when the government raised the stakes against the main opposition party following PASOK’s vote in favor of Elena Akrita for the position of Deputy Speaker of Parliament. It continued on Sunday afternoon, when the Ministry of Finance responded with a lengthy statement to PASOK’s attacks over the ability of borrowers to buy back their loans from banks, stressing that the opposition “hands out costless promises and sends the bill to responsible borrowers.” The Finance Ministry underlined that “the debtor may, within the framework of the restructuring process, propose a lump-sum payment and partial debt write-off,” adding that “the policies adopted by the government since 2019 have delivered very measurable results in the area of private debt.”
Marinakis, Georgiadis and Hatzidakis attack Androulakis in battle for the political center
The offensive continued yesterday through government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis, initially on the same issue. “Mr. Androulakis’ PASOK tried to become a ‘green SYRIZA’ in recent months and years. Now it wants to revive the ‘I won’t pay’ movement,” said the government spokesman, adding that PASOK “has lost all sense of proportion with what it is proposing.” When responding to another question during the regular briefing for political journalists, Mr. Marinakis went further with direct personal criticism of Nikos Androulakis. “The PASOK of Mr. Androulakis is a very different party from the PASOK we remember under Evangelos Venizelos or the late Fofi Gennimata. There are enormous ideological differences — both with the PASOK of that era and with today’s PASOK,” Mr. Marinakis noted, signaling the governing party’s effort to attract the majority of voters who once rallied behind the “We Stay in Europe” movement.
Particularly sharp on the private debt issue was also Adonis Georgiadis. “Mr. Androulakis’ proposal on private debt is a disgrace. I’m not sure people have fully grasped what he actually said,” the Health Minister questioned on ERTNews in response to a related question. He went on to say that “PASOK, which stood so firmly behind Greece’s commitment to the euro, cannot now be presenting a Tsipras-style debt cancellation law like the one from 2015.”
Kostis Hatzidakis — Deputy Prime Minister and a senior New Democracy figure — said in an interview on Mega News radio that the opposition has already launched its familiar playbook: “PASOK, for example, is promising a 13th pension payment. We say it costs 2.5 billion euros. We invite them to go to the General Accounting Office and they refuse. Mr. Tsipras is promising free public transport tickets for everyone, because Mr. Androulakis promised them for young people. And since last week they’ve been saying they’ll simply write off loans,” said Mr. Hatzidakis.
