By putting forward his own editorial, just a few days before the major crash test at the Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF), Mr. Kyriakos Mitsotakis is attempting to bring closure to the entire debate, both within his party and outside of it, after the much heated debate that erupted regarding the conference held in Estonia on Nazism and Communism.
Using the phrase: “It is time to open up the debate and to write up our own history. It is certainly far more creative than discussing past history and the history of other countries”, during his interview with the Kathimerini newspaper, Mr. Mitsotakis, sends a reminder to the general public, that he is leading the party that put forward and made a reality of the national reconciliation process, as it was envisaged by the party’s founder, the late Konstantinos Karamanlis, the man who legalized and made an integral part of the national political scene, the Communist Party of Greece.
New Democracy’s leader, noting that the overall national political debate was recently used in the ideological controversy over communism, and after being directly “accused” through editorials on the front page of the historical left-wing newspaper “AVGH”, that he personally is “white-washing” Nazism, he decided to taken upon himself the initiative to bring about an end on the entire subject and to bring about a swift change in the country’s political agenda focusing on the real problems affecting the country and its citizens.
At the same time, seeing that SYRIZA has an overall disposition to focus and further invest in the bipole between Left & Right, in an attempt to rally together its supporters, since in overall economic and fiscal policy terms has lost a great deal and number of his followers, Mr. Mitsotakis went on to argue that his later father had gone on to form a coalition government with the Left when this was required of him for the benefit of the country, he also went to argue that his sister’s husband had fallen victim to a terrorist attack, paying the ultimate price for his dream of national reconciliation, his dream to build-up bridges among the different factions where others used to build-up walls and to argue that “those that question the great democratic and political history and background of New Democracy are politically and historically dangerous. To do so, talking about supposedly far-right affiliations, and especially those who co-opt and co-operate with Panos Kammenos is just and simply ridiculous”.
“We reply by putting forward our political positions and not by just crying out”
Defending the need to “Reboot” (to restart the country, this being a slogan used by Mr. Mitsotakis during his campaign for his ascension to the party’s leadership), Mr. Mitsotakis strongly argued that the time has come for politicians to come forward and provide answers to the questions on real everyday issues, as these are posed by the country’s citizens. “How are new jobs going to come about? How is taxation going to be reduced? How can we go on about our day-to-day business with the local or national administration without having to deal with an enormity of problems? How is my degree going to increase in value, professionally within the labor market? How can be sure that when I visit a national health service hospital, both myself and my family, are going to receive the best possible medical care services? Will I be able to feel safe in my own neighborhood?”.
Further though to the issues affecting everyday life, the leader of New Democracy has put forward a number of issues, which he feels that affect the country’s overall position and stature, like the role of Greece in an ever-evolving Europe, on climate change but also on the issue of the increasing rate of reduced birth infancy rate in the country. As Mr. Mitsotakis argues, these are the issues that we need to base on the public political dialogue and overall debate, so as to determine and prove who is the most capable and progressive force to address these major issues, thus essentially arguing against to all those, coming from the Left, that have accused New Democracy, of putting forward a right-wing rhetoric & agenda.
