Rallying the party base in northern Greece — and particularly in Thessaloniki — has become a major challenge for strategists at Maximos Mansion and New Democracy (ND) headquarters. Thessaloniki has long been a traditional stronghold for the ruling party, yet all recent polling indicates that ND is facing mounting pressure from the right. One of the regions where ND is feeling the strain is Central Macedonia, where a party delegation visited in recent days and Deputy Prime Minister Kostis Hatzidakis delivered a speech yesterday. Given the region’s critical importance — alongside the Athens basin — senior party and government figures are expected to ramp up their visits to the area ahead of the Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF), with ongoing infrastructure projects in Greece’s second city taking center stage in the ruling party’s local pre-election narrative.
It is a fact that Maximos Mansion is concerned about ND’s momentum in the regions of Macedonia and northern Greece more broadly, as support appears to have declined compared to 2023 levels. Meanwhile, polling shows gains for both Greek Solution and the Elpida for Democracy party.
New Democracy’s counter-offensive: Projects and tours in Macedonia
Against this backdrop, the ruling party is intensifying its presence in the region. With the goal of maximizing voter consolidation, the government will seek in the coming period to highlight the work being carried out in Thessaloniki, with particular emphasis on major infrastructure projects underway in the city. These initiatives span a broad range of interventions, starting with public transport — headlined by the construction of the metro and the doubling of the urban bus fleet to meaningfully improve mobility across the city — as well as upgrades to public health infrastructure and school buildings.
A key milestone in this plan is set for late July, when the extension of the Thessaloniki Metro to Kalamaria is expected to be delivered, adding 4.8 km of track and 5 new stations (Nomarchía, Kalamaria, Aretsou, Nea Krini, Mikra). On schedule for 2027 is the completion of the city’s urban expressway — the most innovative road infrastructure project currently underway anywhere in Greece — with a budget of €462,768,000. The flyover project involves upgrading and urbanizing a section of Thessaloniki’s inner ring road, from interchange K5 (Papageorgiou Hospital) to interchange K12 (junction with the Thessaloniki–Moudania national road), through the construction of a 13 km elevated expressway. The project is expected to significantly improve traffic conditions across the city and includes the construction of 9 grade-separated interchanges, 8 new bridges, and 3 new tunnels.
The port and the schools
Also underway is the investment program of the Thessaloniki Port Authority (ThPA) for the extension of Pier 6, while last January saw the signing of the contract for the construction of the Holocaust Museum of Greece — marking the launch of a project of national and historical significance. The Ministry of Infrastructure is placing considerable emphasis on school building infrastructure. As a current example, 17 schools in the Region of Central Macedonia are being delivered through public-private partnerships (PPPs) via KTYP (16 of them in the Thessaloniki regional unit and one in Pieria). In the area of public health, the Thessaloniki University Pediatric Hospital ISN in Filyro — the first exclusively pediatric hospital outside Athens — is under construction and expected to be completed within the next year. The new Theagenio Cancer Hospital in Thessaloniki is set for delivery in early 2028, while the renovation of the TIF-Helexpo exhibition center is scheduled to begin in early 2027.
Originally published in Apogeumatini
