Amid flooding in the bordering Evros from the overflow of the river in the north of the prefecture, Kyriakos Mitsotakis is travelling to the region today for the second pre-conference organised by New Democracy.

He will have several ministers and government officials with him, including Michalis Chrysochoidis, Thanos Plevris, Yiannis Kefalogiannis, Sevi Voloudaki, Kostasfados, Thanasis Kontogeorgis and others, and in the afternoon he will speak at the panel of the pre-symposium organized in a central hotel of Alexandroupolis.

Mitsotakis is expected to visit one of the areas that suffered disasters due to the overflow of the river, resulting in damage to crops and infrastructure so far, while he will also be in the delta of Evros and the under-construction customs house of Kipi.

The focus on the periphery is essential for the Southwest in its effort to improve its polling position and to re-engage critical electoral audiences. This is because, as government officials also observe, ND is doing better in the Basin and in urban centres in general compared to rural areas, while it has a given loss in rural areas. Evros belongs to the areas with a large producer base, who have even called for a line-up of tractors on the road that Mitsotakis will use on his way to the Evros Delta today.

Of course, the central theme of the blue pre-synod is security and the location was chosen given the obvious symbolism of Evros, which is a frontier region on the borders of the homeland. In the discussion that Mitsotakis will hold at the blue conference, security will be expressed in several ways. The prime minister will discuss with the president of the Panos Milonas Road Safety Institute, a retired Armed Forces officer, a psychologist from the local Counseling Center for Women Victims of Violence and a volunteer firefighter.

Answers and balances with Dendias

On the road to the congress, however, the inside of ND is sort of “heating up” against the backdrop of statements by Defence Minister Nikos Dendias, who appeared worried about the ruling party’s performance in the polls, and stressed that the congress should discuss how ND will return to “high flying”, putting the party’s DNA into the equation. Yesterday, two party officials with personal references to Kyriakos Mitsotakis responded in high tones to Dendias, although the Mansion House wants to keep a low profile.

“If you are a first-rate member of the Southwest and you have fought and are fighting daily for your party, if you identify something you discuss it in your collective bodies and primarily with the prime minister and primarily with the prime minister and president of the Southwest, you don’t go out to say it at party events only. I would not have made these statements if I had been a first class minister for seven years. They do not help,” said yesterday the parliamentary spokesman of the Southwestern Democratic Party, Makarios Lazaridis (Parapolitika 90.1).

In the same vein, the secretary of strategic planning of the Southwestern Democratic Party Vassilis Feugas (Alpha Radio 98.9), who stressed that he did not share Mr. Dendias’ concerns. “I would expect Mr. Dendias to be more supportive of the government, something we haven’t seen so much of in his public appearances so far. Someone who is anxious about the future of the party should come out more often to support the government’s views,” he said.

Of course, Pavlos Marinakis appeared more condescending when briefing political editors, wanting to maintain balance and not open up a bigger issue at a time of poll recovery for the Southwest. Clarifying that he did not respond to Nikos Dendias in statements he made on Friday, Marinakis said that “I don’t think there is a person in the party and in the government who doesn’t want another election victory next time, in the next election.” “I think more this issue has been magnified in recent days than it really exists,” Marinakis added, noting that there is no problem with Dendias going to party events for pies.