Self-reliance is the only pursuit for K. Mitsotakis

By Dimitris Gatsiou

“I will bear the cost of leading the country to a stable port. Any political cost. We will get through this difficult winter. We will get through it together. I will not run away. I will not give up this responsibility entrusted to me by the Greek people. And in at the end of the four years we will come to face each other. And the sovereign Greek people will decide who they want to govern them for the next four years.”

With the conclusion of the first for the new political year… the mother of battles in the Plenary of the Parliament on the surveillance case, the prime minister hastened to send a message of political stability, once again within a few weeks.

Elections at the end of the four years

In the midst of new scenarios for an early appeal to the national ballot box, as these came to the fore from the first moment that the issue of monitoring the phone of Mr. Androulakis became known, which caused strong tremors in the government “camp”, Mr. Mitsotakis showed , once again, the path to completion of the four-year period.

Key to the words and decisions of the prime minister is the concept of “stability”. This word is put forward by Mr. Mitsotakis in front of the multiple crises that are opening on the horizon. He suggested this word when discussions about an electoral surprise had been ignited, on the occasion of the energy crisis. He also proposed this word yesterday in the Parliament. At a time when accuracy is plaguing households and businesses, at a time when Turkey’s leadership is instrumentalizing, once again, immigration, the prime minister was clear. “I will not allow those lurking inside and outside Greece to divert it from its positive course. I am well aware that there are interests that desire weak governments, because they believe that this way increases their possibility of influence… I also know – and I know them well – and the forces inside and outside Greece who have never stood the path of Western liberal democracy that our country has consistently chosen. To all of them, therefore, I would like to address some harsh words. In the Greece of 2022, the others will not be resurrected ports, from which some once asked for rubles or drachmas. They will not be financed again by foreign media centers with well-known protagonists aiming to influence the political scene… To those who think like this, the answer is one: I am not backing down and the Greeks don’t go back”, was his signal, with recipients both inside and outside the country.

The “151”

Another element, on a political level, that one can distinguish from yesterday’s interventions by the Prime Minister in the Plenary Session is the path he once again set out towards the great and only, as the pattern develops, pursuit of the “blue” faction, with the eye in the double, apparently, elections of 2023. And this road is one of self-reliance.

Essentially, Mr. Mitsotakis, speaking in the Parliament, equated SYRIZA with PASOK-KINAL and Alexis Tsipras with Nikos Androulakis, denouncing the two parties as attempting to instrumentalize a real issue, supposedly setting the stage for a political crisis. He stood, however, sharply towards the president of PASOK-KINAL. “Immediately after his election, twice publicly and privately, I invited Mr. Androulakis to meet. He was the leader of the party… I think it is reasonable that there could be a communication between us. He refused. He refused then, as he refuses now He has said, of course, that he “does not want anything to do with the government”. He has already said that “he would not accept my presence as the prime minister of the country, even if New Democracy won the elections”. It is his right to choose his friends and allies, but he must also know that he chooses the prime ministers. the Greek people and not himself,” he said.

Mr. Mitsotakis hastened, essentially, to address the voters who move in the Center area, placing the presidents of SYRIZA and PASOK-KINAL in the same political pattern and the same political cadre. “A political leader must be able to distinguish the temporary influence of the situation from the responsibility of the national course and choose the latter. However, it seems that your leader has other plans. The association of PASOK with SYRIZA and in this the issue is absolute. That’s why many PASOK friends are already wondering whether, by voting for Androulakis, they will end up with Tsipras,” the prime minister stressed.

Social groups

With this move, that is, to identify Mr. Tsipras with Mr. Androulakis, Mr. Mitsotakis not only highlighted dividing lines, but also… burned scenarios that had appeared regarding a New Democracy – PASOK cooperation government , in the event that self-reliance does not occur in next year’s polls. The goal of “151+” was and is central to the “blue” faction, with the prime minister himself highlighting, often-often, recently the necessity of an independent government. “What I insist on is that, in very difficult times, the country needs above all governmental stability and that stability, in my view, is best served by one-party governments, such as the one we have,” the prime minister has commented.

Self-reliance, however, passes through areas-barometers, such as, for example, Macedonia and Crete, but also social groups to which New Democracy will continue to address, with the first stop being the announcements from the floor of the International Exhibition of Thessaloniki for support measures and initiatives. The burden, therefore, in the coming months will fall, among others, on the young generation (the prime minister is expected to announce a housing program for young people from the TIF), on farmers, but also on the middle class, with the strategy of further relief from taxes and contributions to be at the forefront of movements. At the same time, the start of a new round of tours by Mr. Mitsotakis in the region is on the doorstep, with the aim of communicating the reforms, but also to outline the program for the next four years.