Former Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is scheduled to speak Friday at an event organized by a Cretan think tank in Heraklion, in what is shaping up to be another public challenge to the government of his successor, Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
The event, billed around the theme of Greece’s present and future challenges, has fueled intense speculation within right-wing political circles that Samaras may use the occasion to announce the formation of a new party. People familiar with his thinking say that announcement is not imminent, though preparations are well advanced and could support a launch as early as summer, or in the fall.
What is expected is a speech covering the full breadth of his grievances with the current government, delivered before an audience in a region that has become a pressure point for New Democracy, partly due to the fallout from the OPEKEPE agricultural subsidy scandal.
Samaras has been sharpening his criticism of Mitsotakis for months across multiple fronts. He has described the government’s surveillance and wiretapping affair as a major institutional issue and publicly demanded explanations from Mitsotakis himself. He has spoken of a lack of transparency in public life, accused his former party of undergoing a fundamental change from its founding values, and argued that unresolved problems have generated what he calls a fatigued society. He has also warned against using the ongoing constitutional reform process for narrow partisan ends. On foreign policy, he has criticized the government’s energy deal with Chevron and has been consistently vocal about what he sees as an insufficiently firm approach toward Turkey.
The Mitsotakis government has largely chosen not to engage directly with Samaras on substance. Government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis said this week that the door of the party remains open, while making clear that New Democracy would not soften its foreign policy positions for anyone. On the OPEKEPE and domestic criticisms, the government has not offered a formal response.
The week has also produced an awkward internal episode for New Democracy. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Harry Theoharis described Samaras as far-right, a characterization that both Marinakis and New Democracy party spokesperson Alexandra Sdoukou subsequently distanced themselves from.
The broader backdrop to Friday’s event is a Greek political landscape already in flux. The recent launches of the Greek Left Alliance (EL.A.S.) by former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Hope for Democracy by Maria Karystianou, the mother of one of the victims of the 2023 Tempi train disaster who has since become a prominent figure, have reshuffled the center-left. Samaras’s moves, should they lead to a formal party, would do the same on the right.
For now, observers will be parsing his words carefully for any signal of what comes next.
Source: TA NEA
