This past week had plenty of…intra-party drama, following the open difference of opinion between Megaro Maximou and former Prime Minister Antonis Samaras. Returning from a three-day break, however, Kyriakos Mitsotakis has no intention of continuing in a self-referential tempo, which, as staffers at Megaro Maximou explain, has little interest for citizens.

As government sources explain, there may be conflicting views, but Mitsotakis does not want New Democracy to concern public opinion only with its internal affairs at a time when the landscape in the opposition is somewhat clearer, especially after the PASOK elections. The prime minister wants to focus on the government’s daily routine and on what concerns citizens, while the ministerial council that will meet on Thursday will also have several issues to discuss. For example, one of the initiatives in the works is the new model for calculating the minimum wage that Labor Minister Niki Kerameos has been tasked with developing, effective 1/1/2028.

According to the internal analysis at the Maximos Mansion, citizens are not particularly interested in the internal happenings of the parties, rather than focusing on political agendas. It is obvious that the Samaras issue is not so easily closed, given the former prime minister’s insistence on a number of issues, but the government does not want the public dialogue to revolve around this issue. Hence, despite the announcements made, the government did not raise the issue of removing protection for the witnesses in the Novartis case so much, given that further judicial developments in the case will follow, following the lawsuit petitions filed by the accused political figures.

Participation with meaning

In any case, Mitsotakis is expected to make a highly symbolic move in the internal party field, responding to the invitation of the Constantinos Karamanlis Foundation and will be present on Friday, on the first day of the conference organized by the Foundation with eminent academics on the post-war period and the legacy of the Karamanlis.

The conference is titled “From Transition to Democracy – Democracy in our time” and, among others, former Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti is expected to be a speaker. According to protothema.gr, the invitation to Mitsotakis was extended by Achilleas Karamanlis, while the overall responsibility for the organization of the conference lies with Constantinos Arvanitopoulos, the director general of the Foundation.

According to the same information, it is highly likely that former Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis, who is a member of the Foundation’s Board of Directors, will also be present at the event. Any Mitsotakis-Karamanlis coincidence will be interesting, especially after the “disconnection” of Karamanlis from Samaras attempted by the Prime Minister from the Parliament. Karamanlis, apart from being a member of the family, is also a member of the Foundation’s Board of Directors, while he is expected to make a new intervention next Monday in Thessaloniki, intervening at the presentation of journalist Vangelis Plaka’s book “Konstantinos Karamanlis and Thessaloniki”.