Harsh criticism of the mayor of Athens was made by Kostas Bakoyannis, during the Municipal Council. The former mayor talked about the dissatisfaction and disappointment of the citizens a year after the election of Haris Doukas, for whom he said that he “turned his back on the city” and that as mayor he “doesn’t act”.

“Wherever you stand and wherever you are in Athens, you receive dissatisfaction with the municipal authority. You collect irritation, anger and frustration. If you are not getting the same signals, you may need to do something. Adjust your antennas,” he initially said.

He then emphasized that: “Mr. Doukas turned his back on the city and is now coming back, tired and hungry, to be the mayor after a year. As if he is coming to serve some sentence. He did his whim and now comes to tell us that everyone is plotting and fighting him, because they are jealous of him and not because he left the capital of the country waiting for him. It’s as if Athens had the luxury of sitting idle for a whole year, watching the internal party developments in PASOK and the crash test of its mayor’s political ambitions.”

Immediately after, Mr. Bakoyiannis said: “But the worst thing is that this is not over. It won’t end either. You don’t feel comfortable, Mr. Duke, in the mayor’s suit. It bothers you. Especially since underneath you continue to wear the suit of the candidate president and party leader. You will burst with so many clothes.

Proof that the mayor does not act. He only reacts. Especially if issues arise that reflect on his personal political profile. Somehow, we experienced the unprecedented, that the municipality of Athens issued an announcement to exonerate a tree. Somehow, we operate with the closing of the night club. First on TV and then in the city council. This is how you exposed yourself by voting in favor of an account which you then publicly denounced. The worst thing is that you never understood what it was that you denounced.”

And Mr. Bakoyiannis concluded by saying: “At the same time, the Athenians complain about the dirt, the abandonment of the green, the traffic congestion. No, Athens was not Paris and it became Kabul, but the difference after ten months is unfortunately noticeable.”