Μake us preferred on Google With the warning that “people do not forgive such things, and rightly so,” Dora Bakoyannis sounded the alarm for the government over instances of arrogance that, as she put it, must “be stopped quickly.” “We have such incidents too,” she admitted (SKAI), urging Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s ministers to “get off their high horse,” without aiming at any specific officials.
There was speculation behind the scenes in New Democracy about who the stern “get off your high horse” was meant for. Still, it was a broader, though pointed, message from the former minister and Chania MP about the need for the government to connect with the “reality” in society.
She also pointedly addressed the wider rejection of the political system and the fragmentation of the party landscape. She stressed that under current conditions, a stable government is especially important. She also said that in the comparison, which “will be between Mitsotakis and Androulakis and between Mitsotakis and Tsipras, we believe Mitsotakis does a better job than both.”
Fire from within the parliamentary group
In the last 24 hours alone, shots were fired from within the parliamentary group at “arrogant” ministers. New Democracy parliamentary spokesman Dimitris Kairidis, in back-to-back appearances (Parapolitika FM, ERTnews), spoke of some who “have become addicted to their big egos” and acknowledged that “there is nothing worse in politics than elitism.” West Athens MP Dimitris Kalogeropoulos commented (Vouli TV) that citizens “have started to grow tired,” saying some need to lower “their noses because they hold them too high.”
These remarks come in the wake of government missteps that, according to MPs, shift the public debate and put them in an awkward position. Private conversations with MPs show they do not intend to go easy on ministers, whether over their tone or their policies. That is why, as they look for “positive” arguments to present to voters in their constituencies (partly due to internal competition), they have decided to keep up sustained pressure on the government’s inner circle.
Recent ministerial blunders are still being discussed in informal huddles. Pavlos Marinakis’s “personal opinion” on unemployment benefits divided ND and irritated part of the parliamentary group, which accuses the government spokesman of “loose talk.” From the start, Dora Bakoyannis called for more caution.
Along the same lines, Giorgos Floridis’s remark about the risk of a Turkish “move” in the event of political deadlock caused a stir, as did the phrase “an astonishing period of prosperity” used by Adonis Georgiadis, which he claimed was twisted in a populist way. Some MPs are also displeased with what they describe as Akis Skertsos’s insistence on technocratic “Excel and numbers” presentations on the economy, when “our goal is for these results to show up in people’s pockets.”
A line of moderation from the US
With a difficult winter ahead, MPs’ concerns are growing, as the government also shows signs of mixed messaging on measures (for example, on the excise tax). Most expect “drastic interventions,” believing the “message” from the Thessaloniki International Fair must be urgently reinforced.
A telling example was the assessment of East Attica MP Stelios Petsas (Mega News 104.6) that the energy crisis calls for a “bazooka,” not water pistols. It appears that Kyriakos Mitsotakis has not calmed the mood by saying a few days ago that the message “we are irreplaceable” should not be conveyed. The prime minister also tried to set a moderate tone from San Francisco, describing ND as a “moderate, center-right, liberal party.”
At the same time, however, he returned to his warnings about the risk of economic derailment “if another government takes power and decides to put the country back on the path of spending beyond our means (…) the bond markets will not take long to turn against us.” Referring to developments in Germany, Mitsotakis essentially meant that ND does not face the same fate as the CDU: “In Greece, we are defying this trend (…) We are ahead (…) We can win.”
