It is week TIF that begins for the Maximos Mansion, and apart from the final touches to Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s speech, which is being formatted, the field trips of the blue “scales” to the prefectures of Macedonia also begin. This is a dense program covering all prefectures, with the participation of ministers, MPs, and general secretaries, which will continue until Friday, when Mitsotakis is expected to ascend to the capital.

The “premiere” takes place today from Kilkis and the “blue” team includes the Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister Thanasis Kontogeorgis, the Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni, the Deputy Minister of Finance Nikos Papathanasis, the Deputy Minister of Macedonia-Thrace Kostas Gioulekas, the Deputy Minister of Tourism Anna Karamanli, the Deputy Minister of Rural Development Christos Kellas and the Secretaries General Savas Hionidis (Local Government), Stathis Stathopoulos (Forests), Thimios Bakoyannis (Spatial Planning and Urban Environment) and Constantine Gloumis-Atsalakis (Demography and Housing Policy).

On Tuesday, Rodopi and Kavala are next, on Wednesday Halkidiki, Xanthi, Grevena, Drama, Pella, Kozani, on Thursday, Florina, Pieria, Kastoria, Evros, and A’ and B’ Thessaloniki, while on Frida,y the finale, apart from the two regions of Thessaloniki, includes Serres. Also on Friday, the Southwest is organizing two thematic events in Thessaloniki with several ministers as speakers.

The dilemmas

At the same time, Mitsotakis is finalizing the framework of his intervention from the podium of the Veldeion next Saturday, at a crucial political moment when the government is called upon to pick up the thread again and attempt to regain control of political initiatives.

According to “THEMA”, the prime minister is expected to give an extensive analysis of international developments and Greece’s position in the world, commenting in detail on political crises that tend to turn political, such as the situation in France these days, with the prospect of the collapse of the Bayreuth government. And in this light, he will defend the argument of political stability in Greece that allows the country to grow and return the dividends of this growth to its citizens.

Already last Thursday, when he went up to Thessaloniki for meetings with stakeholders, Mitsotakis insisted on the argument for a one-party government that can carry out important reforms and “run” major projects. And in this context, referring to the current state of the political system, he is expected to describe himself and ND as the only force that can guarantee a stable path for Greece in 2030, thus paving the way for a third term.

Electricity and AI

From there, Mitsotakis’s speech and his general presence in Thessaloniki will not only have economic news. For instance, in his introduction to the cabinet, he photographed important changes concerning the Building Services (Poleοδομίες). As “THEMA” wrote a few days ago, it is considered a foregone conclusion that they should be centrally integrated into the Ministry of Environment. Newer information says that the municipalities will be left with the responsibility for urban planning, while the issuance of permits, controls, and so on will be centralized. A final meeting on the issue will be held early this week.

Also, on the Friday before the exhibition, an event is expected to be held in Thessaloniki with the Prime Minister, a senior executive of OpenAI (the parent company of ChatGPT) and Education Minister Sofia Zacharaki in attendance to introduce artificial intelligence into schools, at least on a pilot level.

Reports say that the aim is to start retraining teachers and lecturers in the use of AI with educational content by the end of October, and then follow up with children, with uses tailored to the educational process. It should be noted that a few months ago, Mitsotakis had met with OpenAI vice-president Chris Lehane in Paris, on the sidelines of the AI Summit organised by President Macron.