Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in a live interview on SKAI Radio a day after the heated parliamentary debate over the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the government’s amendment regarding the national monument, defended the measure as one of “common sense and necessity.”

He began by commenting on the death of Dionysis Savvopoulos, calling the day “emotionally overcast.”
“He was the greatest songwriter of his generation, but also a deeply conscious citizen who was never afraid to speak up and hold a mirror to society. I feel sadness — perhaps in death he managed once again to unite us and remind us that his journey mirrored that of post-dictatorship Greece, with all its strengths and weaknesses. We can draw confidence from his lyrics.”

Speaking on the amendment concerning the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the absence of Defense Minister Nikos Dendias from the parliamentary session, Mitsotakis stated:
“This measure was necessary to protect a monument. I don’t think such a debate would take place in any other country — societies respect their national monuments without needing a law. In Greece, given our particular circumstances, we didn’t achieve that, so we brought forward a regulation that reinforces the obvious: that the right to protest can be exercised anywhere else. The image we’ve been seeing until now is not one we like, and the silent majority agrees with that.”

He added that he spoke personally with Defense Minister Dendias before the amendment, and that Dendias expressed no disagreement — he co-signed the measure, and responsibility for the monument now falls under the Ministry of Defense (ΥΠΕΘΑ).

“Why should this monument monopolize protest?” Mitsotakis asked rhetorically. “This is an attempt by some to use political activism to create disorder. The issue also raises broader political questions about how parts of the Left appropriate public space.”

Regarding the Tempi train tragedy, Mitsotakis emphasized:
“We stand against no parent who lost a child in Tempi. But the political exploitation is evident — as seen also in the so-called ‘xylole conspiracy.’ I take responsibility for the fact that we did not respond adequately.”