Every time the Konstantinos Karamanlis Foundation opens the doors of its premises in Filothei to “all of ND”, it constitutes a political event. So today, on the occasion of the opening event of the International Scientific Conference “1974-2024: 50 years of the transition to democracy – Democracy in our time”, all the “blue tribes” under the…gaze of the founder of the party will be present in the big hall to listen to the speech of the iconic Italian politician Mario Monti.
For Kyriakos Mitsotakis, it will be his first joint appearance with Anthony Samaras and Kosta Karamanlis since the New Democracy congress in April, and while his two predecessors have recently opened fire several times against government choices, each in his own way. The two “exes” had not accepted Mitsotakis’ invitation to go to the Rigillis for the party’s birthday, and in recent weeks the situation, especially with Samaras, has escalated despite attempts at “make-up”.
Today’s event will be preceded by a meeting of the ministerial council (11:00), which will have as its “marquee” the new model for calculating the minimum wage according to French standards that will be in force from 2028 and will be presented by Labor Minister Niki Kerameos.
In his introduction, meanwhile, Kyriakos Mitsotakis is expected to make reference to the issue opened by the inauguration of the new building of the AADE the day before yesterday, announcing new tax cuts, in fact from 2026. The meeting is not a procedural one, it also constitutes a practical signal from the government that the vast majority of citizens are not interested in the inner-party happenings of the Southwest, but in matters of substance.
Seating and wells
Returning to the Philothei event, it is clear that the interest will be in the picture: who will sit next to whom, what the handshakes will be like, what will be said in the wells that will inevitably be set up. Mitsotakis-Samaras relations are cold at the level of… Antarctica, while the relationship with Karamanlis is somewhat more complicated. In the former prime minister’s entourage, the message of defence of his policy for what happened in 2009, which Kyriakos Mitsotakis sent out from the Parliament a few days ago, was perceived. But it is clear that a “nod” is not enough to mitigate given differences. So in the case of Samaras, a joint presence at an event and a handshake (or even more) does not easily change Mitsotakis’ intense annoyance at the former prime minister’s shots at the prospect of partitioning the Aegean Sea, and Samaras’ irritation with national issues at the top of the list.
In any case, when all three are in the front row of the room, the flashbulbs will be on fire. Among those present will be former President of the Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos, the Speaker of Parliament Kostas Tasoulas, Achilleas Karamanlis, while invitations have been sent to all the ministers and MPs of the New Democracy, as well as members of the business and academic community.
“Absences” from the ONNED
According to protothema.gr, the “coincidence” of the triumvirate of Mitsotakis-Samaras-Karamanlis will not be repeated on Saturday at the ONNED “birthday” at the Athens Conservatory. Mitsotakis will of course speak at 12:00, but Karamanlis is expected to have already departed for Thessaloniki, as on Monday 4 November he will speak at the presentation of journalist Vangelis Plaka’s book on Constantine Karamanlis and his imprint on the city, especially in the infrastructure sector. And Antonis Samaras is not expected to be present. However, Mitsotakis and Samaras will, barring a shocking contingency, coincide with the inauguration of the “House of Elytis” in Plaka, with the event scheduled for Friday afternoon.
The new Karamanlis message
The first of the former who, however, immediately made a planned public intervention is Karamanlis. In his roughly 10-minute intervention in Thessaloniki on Monday, according to protothema.gr, he is expected to make ideological references, as well as references to the challenges facing the quality of democracy in Europe. More specifically, he will talk about social inequalities and the strengths of the welfare state, but also about the functioning of justice. At the same time, Karamanlis is also expected to make an interesting reference to Greek-Turkish affairs, given the Greek-Turkish dialogue.
The final wording will be “locked” by the end of the week, but it is a given that Karamanlis will also want to defend the actions of the “National Lord”, stressing that he never discussed territorial waters with the Turks. And in any case, he will point out the given red lines of the Greek-Turkish dialogue and what may be contained in the agreement.
