The Unknown Soldier controversy has revealed the extent of disagreements, personal strategies, and power games among top “blue” officials within the government, with key players including the Maximos Mansion, the first-ranking minister (both in polls and symbolically, at least) after Kyriakos Mitsotakis – Nikos Dendias – and the “wildcard” of the entire story, none other than Adonis Georgiadis.
Underground clashes at Maximos over the Unknown Soldier
It was clear that during the days leading up to the Defense Minister’s announcement, which became the main axis around which the one-day government crisis unfolded until the controversial amendment was voted through, the prevailing atmosphere cultivated by the prime ministerial court was to emphasize the Pentagon’s field of responsibilities regarding the Monument, with other portfolios’ involvement taking a back seat. A telling example was the complete absence of the Police factor from public discourse, as well as the lack of references to the responsibilities of the Athens Municipality and opposition member Haris Doukas. The only reference to the Athens mayor was made on Friday afternoon, when again with clear jabs at the Defense Ministry, it was conveyed that Katehaki would do whatever necessary to protect the area. The situation took on even greater dimensions when the Health Minister entered the fray, who almost daily, regardless of the content of interviews he gave last week, ended up with the refrain that the person responsible for maintaining order in front of and around the Unknown Soldier was his bitter political friend (given the criticism he levies at every opportunity) Nikos Dendias.
Adonis Georgiadis adds fuel to the fire
These statements by Adonis Georgiadis obviously had the approval or at least tolerance of the Mitsotakis system, since over the days he not only didn’t de-escalate this criticism, but on the contrary added fuel to the fire. It’s clear that this choice, at least regarding Maximos’s stance, was also a clear message to Dendias’s side about the latter’s statement approximately two weeks earlier, with which he completely differentiated himself from the government line regarding Panos Routsis’s hunger strike case. Moreover, it shouldn’t be forgotten that the decision regarding the Defense Minister’s role, within the framework of the Unknown Soldier amendment, was made between the prime ministerial staff immediately after these statements, with Government Minister Akis Skertsos and Deputy Prime Minister Kostis Hatzidakis over-emphasizing this logic, with all that this entails for the political tactics mainly of the latter not only at the governance level, but also personal approaches and plans.
It was clearer than daylight that after this specific communication management, the deafening silence of the Corfu native would sooner or later become a thing of the past, which indeed happened with the announcement issued a few hours before the vote, invoking the Constitution as well as the views of the President of the Republic, Kostas Tasoulas, who despite Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s attempt to disentangle him from the whole scenario in the interview he gave mid-week to Aris Portosalte, it was an open secret that the way he positioned himself around the Unknown Soldier issue was anything but satisfactory to both the prime minister himself and his environment. With the certain knowledge that Nikos Dendias wouldn’t go to extremes and after all this noise would normally show up in Parliament to vote, on Tuesday evening after Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s speech in Parliament, a closed meeting took place in his parliamentary office, in the presence of Giorgos Gerapetritis, Pavlos Marinakis and Michalis Bekris, during which it was decided to lower the tones but not blur the transmitted message regarding the Pentagon’s responsibilities, a parameter that was perceived both in the leak given that same evening to government editors and in the prime minister’s meaningful remark on SKAI radio about his conversation with the Defense Minister before drafting the amendment.
The cabinet reshuffle scenario and ONNED congress
These processes have their roots in internal tensions that started some time ago with the controlled but clear introversion caused by situations like what happened before the European elections with same-sex marriage and the law on freelancer taxation, which ultimately cost the government, and the distancing of Kostas Karamanlis and Antonis Samaras from the leading government core. In the same framework are added the annoying current questions from MPs aligned with the two former prime ministers to top ministers, as well as the general upheaval that traditionally occurs in New Democracy whenever any kind of erosion is recorded. It’s no coincidence that at the recent ONNED Congress, competition phenomena were observed for the first time among the youth-elect of prominent officials to strengthen their dynamics within the Organization.
This image constitutes a harbinger of what will happen at the party Congress in spring, while particularly indicative is the confrontation between MPs and regional politicians with the backdrop of upcoming intra-party elections in New Democracy organizations, where interest and battle focus on electing congress delegates and much less on new heads of Regional organizations. However, despite the scenario that has developed, it’s common ground that Kyriakos Mitsotakis, given the polling findings that continue to show -despite the apparent drop in percentages compared to the past and the difficult circumstances for the government- absolute dominance for the governing faction and personally for the prime minister against other political leaders, continues to maintain the initiative in moves. Much more so from the moment when a clear opposing threat from the opposition side still doesn’t appear clearly. In this context, one of the scenarios that have been put on the table in yet another attempt to get the government scheme back on a positive track (after all, the Unknown Soldier issue also came as a result of searches for the government’s restoration with a significant portion of right-wing but also centrist voters) is also the cabinet reshuffle scenario within a time frame from the immediate next period until Christmas and with clearly pre-election characteristics.
It’s no coincidence that in the prime ministerial notebook, the greatest space at this juncture is not occupied by names that will probably find themselves on the exit route, but those that will enter the equation, either as first “violins” or as deputy ministers, but in any case their selection will have an imprint in terms of government refreshment, as well as in local communities. Most of them are officials who also held government positions in the past, since now the… bench is dangerously exhausted. Among these are included Maria Kefala (who left the government due to her differentiation on same-sex marriage), Maria Syrengela, who until recently was New Democracy’s secretary, Makarios Lazaridis, Tasos Chatzivasiliou, who left the scheme in the aftermath of OPEKEPE, Andreas Nikolakopoulos, Nikos Syrigos, Dimitris Kairidis, Sofia Voultepsi, Christos Kapetanos, in a possibility to strengthen Larissa’s representation for obvious reasons, Maximos Senetakis from Heraklion with the same reasoning, Giorgos Stylios, Lakis Vasiliadis, as well as Euripidis Stylianidis, Miltos Chrysomallis and Andreas Katsaniotis, as openings to “Karamanlis” and “Samaras” supporters.
Published in Parapolitika
