“For me, politics is a matter of the heart. My heart is in Athens,” emphasized Kostas Bakoyannis, former mayor of Athens and head of the municipal faction “Athens High” in the Municipality of Athens, on Parapolitika 90.1, in the show “She and I,” with journalists Stella Gantona and Thanasis Fouskidis. In the interview he gave, he spoke about the problems in the municipality of Athens, the opposition he exercises with his faction, while also criticizing Athens mayor Haris Doukas and discussing Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s leadership. “Clearly Kyriakos Mitsotakis and a single-party government is the only solution. We need a stable, secure government,” stressed Mr. Bakoyannis.
At the beginning of his interview, regarding the opposition he exercises, he emphasized: “We try to be the voice of Athenians in the municipal council. We have an Athens that is headless and ungovernable. We cannot instrumentalize it for political ambitions. We cannot perform miracles, but we can do our job effectively.”
About Haris Doukas he said the following: “As soon as he was elected, after six months he was a candidate for the presidency of PASOK. He lives and breathes for this.” He added that there is “a logic that wants the municipality of Athens to be subordinate to ulterior motives. Athens deserves a full-time mayor who cares for it, who sleeps and wakes up having the city in mind.”
“Isn’t it clear that Mr. Doukas is dealing with PASOK and not with Athens?” he added. Regarding the possibility of seeking a new term in the municipality of Athens, he noted the following: “I have not entered into a prolonged election campaign. We try to be constructive and effective. We enter to convince.”
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Kostas Bakoyannis: his interview on Parapolitika 90.1
On the municipality of Athens:
– “From the day after the 2023 elections I have been doing what I believe Athenians asked me to do, opposition. We are the largest faction. We haven’t missed a minute of the municipal council. We are a faction that walks in the neighborhoods”
– “We try to be the voice of Athenians in the municipal council. We have an Athens that is headless and ungovernable. We cannot instrumentalize it for political ambitions. We cannot perform miracles but we do our job effectively”
On Haris Doukas
– “As soon as he was elected, after six months he was a candidate for the presidency of PASOK. He lives and breathes for this.”
– “There is a logic that wants the municipality of Athens subordinate to ulterior motives. Athens deserves a full-time mayor who cares for it, who sleeps and wakes up having the city in mind.”
– “Isn’t it clear that Mr. Doukas is dealing with PASOK and not with Athens?”
On e-scooters
– “We have reached May 2026 and everything is up in the air, we are the city of anything goes. Thessaloniki had finished the plan by August 2025. We have a mayor in Athens who makes videos and another in Thessaloniki who makes progress. Where e-scooters will be placed, where everyone will leave them and whether there will be fines, are issues of the municipality that pleases companies.”
– “Things today are much worse. Thousands of citizens have reported thousands of issues. I do the opposition I would want done to me. I don’t perform miracles nor ask for rabbits with bow ties.”
On cleanliness
– “Why don’t we wash the city? We had bought machines, they have disappeared. We had bought an anti-graffiti machine, where did it go?”
– “Today there are more employees in cleanliness, but what’s happening?”
On social structures
– “We had created a model social structure for the homeless, the World Health Organization awarded us. Then it closed due to the situation that occurred”
On the dual redevelopment
– “It’s progressing but with delays by Haris Doukas, I support the dual redevelopment. This project is my child. In 2019 I found it dead and revived it”
– “Finally the Attica region is proceeding with the refugee issues and this is important”
On a new term in the municipality of Athens
– “I have not entered into a prolonged election campaign. We try to be constructive and effective. We enter to convince.”
– “I would forget the big projects. I would focus on various small ones. The municipality of Athens is a municipality of people”
On overtourism
– “We have experienced a big increase in recent years. The problem is not overtourism. The municipality struggles to meet the needs of the city.”
