Every year at this time, Thessaloniki slowly moves to the center of attention for any government. The Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF) draws the eyes of the entire Greek political scene, with the announcements made there and the sitting prime minister’s meetings with local stakeholders carrying considerable weight. These meetings with Thessaloniki representatives used to take place on the opening day of the Fair, when the well-known roundtable with local bodies was never an easy conversation for any prime minister. On one occasion, local stakeholders handed Costas Simitis the exact same memorandum as the previous year, while the city’s metro remained a major “thorn” in the relationship between the government and Thessaloniki for many years.
The weight placed on the “Bride of the North”
Kyriakos Mitsotakis has gradually changed the protocol, giving Thessaloniki a different kind of significance and separating the two agendas. In recent years, it has become tradition for him to travel to Thessaloniki ten days before the Fair’s opening to first deliver a local review of the year’s progress, before then addressing a nationwide audience at the TIF itself. This year, the government’s “Thessaloniki operation” kicked off with a meeting held ten days ago at Maximos Mansion between Prime Minister Mitsotakis and Thessaloniki Mayor Stelios Angeloudis. The meeting went smoothly, confirming that the relationship between the government and the city’s mayor remains on very good terms.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis will visit Thessaloniki twice. The first visit has already been scheduled for Thursday, August 27, at the Thessaloniki Concert Hall, where the annual planned meetings with representatives of the city’s institutions will take place. At the event, which will be attended by numerous ministers, an extensive presentation of the government’s work in Thessaloniki is expected, while the Prime Minister’s address will outline the government’s overall vision for projects in Thessaloniki and Northern Greece more broadly. This will be followed by a second visit for the TIF, on September 4, 5, and 6 — a three-day appointment during which the government’s economic policy for the coming year will be presented, along with New Democracy’s vision for the period up to 2030, complemented by a series of additional side events.
“We said it and we did it”
Two major projects will define Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s presence in Thessaloniki this year. First, the launch of the Kalamaria metro extension, which, based on current plans, is very likely to take place either on the morning of Thursday, August 27, or the following day, with the Prime Minister expected to be present in either case.
The government is banking heavily on the metro project, as reflected in the very positive ridership figures it has recorded. There are also strong indications that announcements will be made regarding the launch of the metro’s northwestward extension, given that the contract for the initial studies has already been signed. The second major project will be the redevelopment of the TIF grounds, a plan that recently passed through Thessaloniki’s City Council. After a lengthy and difficult period of consultation, the government has finalized the relevant plan, which is expected to begin immediately and be completed by 2030.
Beyond these projects, the Prime Minister’s presence in Thessaloniki is expected to reaffirm the importance the government places on the city, with a clear message: “We said it and we did it — in Thessaloniki too.” The metro on the central route and Kalamaria, the TIF redevelopment plan, and the projects expected to be completed in the near future — including the Pediatric Hospital in Filyro, set to break ground in early 2027, the Flyover, expected to be ready by spring of the same year, and the new Court of Appeals at the port — all serve as proof points of this commitment.
With all of this in mind, the government and New Democracy have clear expectations of improving their electoral performance in Northern Greece, and particularly in the country’s second-largest city. These expectations are further bolstered by the fact that — as all indications suggest — New Democracy’s candidate list in the first electoral district of Thessaloniki will be particularly competitive. New candidacies being discussed or already announced include those of ministers George Floridis and Margaritis Schinas (under discussion), deputy ministers Nikos Tachiaoς (highly likely) and Nikos Papaioannou (already announced), as well as former secretary-general Thanasis Tsiouras and the coordinator of the Prime Minister’s office in Thessaloniki, Yannis Papageorgiou (also announced).
Visits to the west
Alongside Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s two-part visit — which will also include a tour of Western Macedonia on August 27 and 28 — a packed schedule of regional visits by party delegations will unfold across all three regions of Northern Greece. Ministers, members of parliament, and government and party officials will tour every prefecture of Northern Greece in the ten-day period leading up to the TIF,
presenting the government’s work on a prefecture-by-prefecture basis, while prefectural party assemblies will also be held to conclude each regional tour.
The political objective is clear: to consolidate the party’s voter base in the North — where this is crucial — and to win back traditional conservative voters who are eyeing other political options, such as Greek Solution and the party being formed by Antonis Samaras, both of which appear to have a strong foothold in the region.
* Originally published in Parapolitika on August 22
