Focused changes in the government’s structure, which will be announced by the Prime Minister towards Thursday, government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis announced, while clarifying that this is not a structural reshuffle.
Talking to the SKAI television station, Marinakis clarified that Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ announcements will be made immediately after the election of Konstantinos Kyranakis as the new party secretary. The changes will involve his replacement in the nerve-wracking post of Deputy Transport Minister, as well as the replacement of Nikos Tagaras. At the same time, the spokesman clarified that there is no question of replacing George Mylonakis, expressing the government’s desire to have him back soon.
Responding to recent criticisms launched by Antonis Samaras, Marinakis described as “devoid of logic” the identification of Kyriakos Mitsotakis with Alexis Tsipras, recalling that the former Prime Minister had personally suffered the logic of being targeted by Tsipras in the Novartis case. Asked about the possibility of Samaras creating a new party and the damage he could cause to the New Democracy party, he noted that the election results would show this, but estimated that his rhetoric was not aimed at the party’s voters. He also described Samaras’ deletion as an “unavoidable unpleasant development”, while asked about Kostas Karamanlis’ attitude, he described him as a “profoundly factional politician”, adding that both he and Kyriakos Mitsotakis never left New Democracy.
Turning to the field of opinion polls, the government spokesman stressed that the only goal remains the attainable self-reliance, admitting that the ruling party is currently 7-8 points away from this goal. He made it clear that there would be no second round of elections and that the country must have a government on the night of the polls, pointing to PASOK as the only party with which cooperation could institutionally be an issue due to its seriousness, although, he added, Harilaou Trikoupis has closed this door.
Commenting on the ratings of Alexis Tsipras’s new ELAS party, Marinakis said the former prime minister was expressing populism and the “logic of Greece in the 1980s”. He even argued that PASOK had unwittingly acted as a “sponsor” of Tsipras’ rise to second place, as it was tempted to adopt a similar populist rhetoric of exaggerated promises to win votes, with voters ultimately preferring the genuine exponent of this policy.
Closing his remarks, the government spokesman also referred to the field of economy, announcing that new tax cuts for businesses are to be announced at the Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF) next September.
