The New Democracy government does not wish to give any continuation to the dispute with Antonis Samaras, with the message from the Prime Minister’s office from the first moment being in favor of maintaining low tones and avoiding any comment as much as possible – except for ideological references. Government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis was asked about this during the regular briefing of political editors and answered laconically: “We will make no comment on the former prime minister’s interview“.
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He then chose, however, to answer another related question, to describe the ideological identity of the New Democracy government – the only point from Mr. Samaras’s nearly two-hour interview (“Simitic PASOK“) to which the Prime Minister’s office wanted to respond, even indirectly.
Prime Minister’s office: Why it chooses silence on Samaras attack
“Politics is policies, it’s work, it’s results, it’s bills, it’s implementation of the laws that are voted. It’s not labels“, said Mr. Marinakis, subsequently referring to the “most liberal policy“, referencing the reduction and abolition of direct and indirect taxes, for “policy consistent with our ideology“, referencing immigration, and for the doctrine “Law and Order” and how this is implemented by the New Democracy government.
Strictly on the ideological part moved also Adonis Georgiadis’s response in the interview he gave to Parapolitika 90.1. “I don’t comment on Mr. Samaras“, said the Health Minister. “There’s no forced approach“, he mentioned subsequently, however on the issue of New Democracy’s ideological identity he was more analytical: “I as a right-winger will tell you that Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s government according to my tastes is sufficiently right-wing. On immigration we have the toughest immigration policy in the entire European Union… It’s sufficiently right-wing because it managed to strengthen the country’s national defense, raise its geopolitical value, strengthen the Armed Forces, strengthen the Greece-Israel axis, all these are very right-wing according to my tastes“.
Makis Voridis clarified (on SKAI) that “the government does not wish to open a confrontation with the former prime minister. It seems to me a correct stance that Antonis Samaras is a constituent element of New Democracy“. As the former minister and New Democracy MP pointed out, the issues raised by Mr. Samaras have occupied public dialogue and have been largely answered.
Caustic was the comment by George Gerapetritis, without there apparently being any connection between what he said and what Mr. Samaras had pointed out in his interview. Responding to a current question from Sia Anagnostopoulou from New Left on the topic of convening a five-party conference for the Eastern Mediterranean, the Foreign Minister stressed among other things that “hostility and intolerance at other levels may be negative, in foreign policy they are certainly catastrophic for the country“.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis last responded about Antonis Samaras a month ago and does not intend to return to the subject. “As you can see, New Democracy is at the forefront of artificial intelligence overall“, was the sharp comment by the prime minister in a brief conversation he had then with journalists at the Athens Odeon, on the sidelines of the presentation of Evripidis Stylianidis’s book, from which Mr. Samaras decided to absent himself at the last minute.
Today, the prime minister will travel for a tour in Rodopi. His program is as follows:
– 10:30 Visit to Maroneia
– 12:00 Visit to DESFA’s Natural Gas Compression Station in the Industrial Area of Komotini and the facilities of Interplast company.
– 13.00 Travel to Komotini, where he will visit the Music School of Komotini and the Carathéodory Museum and then meet with young people from the area.
– 14.30 Visit to the under-construction General Hospital of Komotini Stavros Niarchos Foundation, a model public hospital, which is expected to be completed at the end of 2026.
