By Penelope Galliou

The opening kick for the resumption of the pre-election period was given by the Prime Minister from Lamia, unfolding the strategy that will be followed by Maximos Palace on the way to the May polls. A path in which any kind of toxicity and polarization in the political dialogue is rejected, focusing on the positive agenda and the deeds of the four-year government of the ND. Speaking “with projects and not with insults”, as a government official commented, the government will focus on promoting the government’s work, on the inevitable comparison of the ND government with the SYRIZA government, while great emphasis is expected to be placed on the economy and, by extension, on the daily life of citizen and with the goal that the Greece of 2027 will be much better than today.

The tone was clearly set by the capital of Fthiotida Kyriakos Mitsotakis posing the clear dilemma “will we go forward or go back? Will we secure what we have achieved or roll back?”, he asked himself during his speech. He also made sure to remind who the ND has to contend with “opponents who remain incorrigible”, he said, referring among others to the “protopalikaras” of Koumoundourou, Pavlos Polakis and Nikos Pappa, attempting to identify them with the leadership of SYRIZA and Alexis Tsipras. “Our opponents have not changed. I have not seen any new faces, they are the same. On the one hand, the political thug, Mr. Polakis, and on the other hand, Mr. Pappas, irrevocably convicted of dereliction of duty,” noted the prime minister.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis also went on to compare crisis management between ND and SYRIZAstressing that “we can deal with the past and with our bad selves. So let’s test everyone’s ability to manage crises. Let’s also test the state’s reaction to the big tests. Let’s also compare the attitudes of those who accept the mistakes and correct them, with those who stage them to load them elsewhere. Compare the behavior of those who look down and those who only know how to raise a finger and buy,” he said, photographing the management of the tragedy in Mati by the SYRIZA government.

The Prime Minister from Lamia also returned to the issue of partnerships, saying a clear “no to proposals that lead to paralysis” and underlining the need for the country to have a strong and self-sufficient government and calling on citizens to “deactivate” the poti’s bomb of anarchy “The Greeks have both memory and knowledge. They will defuse both the bomb of misgovernment and a new political anomaly. This is why I say that in the first ballot the voters will decide who will rule the country. And when I say who, I mean which party and which prime minister. While in the second it will be decided how this prime minister will govern. So simple and so clear. This is a single process. No frivolous choices or reckless messages are allowed,” he stressed.

Referring to his proposal Nikos Androulakis who insists on setting conditions for any post-election cooperation government, the prime minister used sharp tones: “Those who talk about cooperation governments, they refer to paralysis,” he said, and wondered “what does this unknown X prime minister who will lead the next day mean? That the citizens will they vote blindly? That is, they want one and another will come to them? I’m sorry, but these are not serious things. You vote for ND to have Mitsotakis as prime minister. Well, you vote for SYRIZA to have Tsipras as prime minister. But why vote for something that doesn’t do you know what’s coming out tomorrow?”

Under these conditions and in this climate, the prime minister chose, as he himself observed, the language of truth and addressing those who may have been disappointed by the ND, noting that “there are citizens who will vote for us for the first time. There are also some who trusted us, but are now skeptical. We may have hurt you, but we never betrayed you. The contract of truth and trust with citizens always stands, with the same goals and the same allies,” he remarked, noting that “self-reliance today is not partisan expediency. I consider it a national necessity. At the same time, self-reliance means spaciousness. A stream in which many and many can fit. The slogan “we are staying in Europe”, which we once managed to transform into “we have become Europe at all levels” , with Greece and the Greeks ahead” concluded Kyriakos Mitsotakis, pledging that the ND will win in the next elections “so that we can run forward even faster. To change the country more boldly, more effectively, for our individual and overall advancement.”