The first, formal, meeting between Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Stefanos Kasselakis began with awkward smiles and “squeals” in front of the cameras.
The prime minister and president of New Democracy meaningfully asked the president of SYRIZA if he has familiarized himself with the House, as he is not a Member of Parliament. Mr. Kasselakis did not take the gauntlet and referred to the internal parties of SYRIZA.
While then he rather surprised Mr. Mitsotakis, claiming that expatriate districts should be created, to elect their own deputies. Mr. Kasselakis had expressed this opinion yesterday at the SYRIZA Committee.
But the reason it caused a sensation is because this was not the position of SYRIZA in 2019 during the debate on the vote of the emigrants, but his position… Yanis Varoufakis. The then Minister of the Interior, Takis Theodorikakos, had then rejected the said proposal of the president of MeRA25 and finally the parties had reached a compromise on the proposal of the KKE.
With the law on vote of emigrants of course, Mr. Kasselakis was also a candidate for SYRIZA, who eventually became the official opposition leader.
During his stay in the Prime Minister’s office in the Parliament, Mr. Kasselakis asked to drink an American coffee and discussed with Mr. Mitsotakis for almost an hour.
What Mitsotakis-Kasselakis discussed in private
It was from Maximos thrifty about the content of the debate, simply stating that the prime minister briefed the leader of the official opposition on the country’s positions on developments in the Middle East and on discussions at European Council level.
But also for her course of the Greek economy and on the outlook after the country’s credit rating upgrade as well as on the government’s reform initiatives.
“Mr. Mitsotakis stated that he is always at the disposal of Mr. Kasselakis as well as the other political leaders for their information,” Maximou also reported. A reference that was a tipping point for Nikos Androulakis, who, on the contrary, had finally never met with Mr. Mitsotakis after his election to the leadership of PASOK.
From the side of SYRIZA they said that Mr. Kasselakis raised the issue of wiretapping. In particular, he suggested that EYP employees testify as witnesses, citing specific legislation.
The president of SYRIZA also requested that the appointments of all administrations of public organizations be made exclusively by ASEP.
Suggest extra to change the law on where you belong, in order to publish all the details of the loans received by political persons, such as granting conditions. He also supported the abolition of the immunity of bank executives.
And from the side of SYRIZA, they confirmed that the two men discussed the developments in Gauze.
The Mitsotakis attack on PASOK and the spikes for Andreas Papandreou
Afterwards, Mr. Mitsotakis spoke at the plenary session of the Parliament defending the bill for the selection of administrations in public bodies.
It caused a sensation that he admitted that all governments, i.e. obviously also the previous ND governments, fell into the “sin” of appointing party friends to hospitals. While he announced that the salaries of the managers of public organizations nationwide and hospitals will increase and will be equal to the salary of General Secretaries of the public sector.
The Prime Minister on secondment fired him fierce attack on PASOK, with spikes and for the policy of the founder of the Movement, Andreas Papandreou, in the Palestinian area.
“Really, Mr. Androulakis, you came and told us about the great political legacy of PASOK. And you referred to the times of Andreas Papandreou and Yasser Arafat, 80s, claiming what? That the country’s relations with our wider neighborhood were balanced then?
Because I want to remind you – because you probably don’t remember them well – that during the time of Andreas Papandreou, Greece was the only country that had not officially recognized the state of Israel. And this you come and claim now referring to that period, that it was a balanced policy. Either you don’t know them, so you would do well to inform yourself and read a little more about the history of your party, or you are simply off topic by making this specific reference”, said Mr. Mitsotakis.
“Mind you, I didn’t refer to other PASOK leaders who maintained a more balanced stance. The state of Israel was recognized by a decision of Constantinos Mitsotakis in April 1990 and we were the last European country to recognize Israel”, he added.
Mr. Mitsotakis claimed that he was one of the few prime ministers who were in both Cairo and Israel in the previous days. While he assured that Greece has not changed its position on the need for a solution, a political solution to the Palestinian problem in the logic of the two states.
“We are working with the United Nations and other countries to see how we can ship Greek humanitarian aid to Gaza and to ensure that it reaches those who need it the most as soon as possible”, stressed the Prime Minister.
While defended the decision for Greece to abstain from voting at the UN saying:
“And yes, we did not vote in favor of a resolution which, in our opinion, was not balanced. This is the view of the country and we were not alone. The majority of European countries thought the same”.
