Kyriakos Mitsotakis gave an interview to Status FM 107.7 radio station, reiterating his willingness to participate in a debatebased on the letter of the law and the rules, i.e. with the presence of all the political leaders.

The prime minister surprised Efi Pafitou and Virginia Dimaresi, who appeared to be surprised, while at first they thought someone was joking.

In the end it wasn’t… a joke and the Prime Minister’s intervention turned into an interview, in which Mr Kyriakos Mitsotakis he also referred to the amendment for the block in the Kasidiari party, saying that it “further shields the ability of the entire section of the Supreme Court to make the relevant decision and judge”.

Here’s the full interview:

Journalist: Please?

Kyriakos Mitsotakis: Hello, hello.

Reporter: Hello, your name?

Kyriakos Mitsotakis: Since you claimed that I don’t listen to local radio stations and I was listening to you just before I went to talk to Evosmos, I said I’d take you and say good morning. Let me tell you that in Evosmos it didn’t rain at all, we didn’t have any hail, or anything. We had a very nice opening and we had a very nice event.

Reporter: Are you kidding me? Who called me and is kidding me?

Kyriakos Mitsotakis: I am not kidding you at all.

Journalist: This voice is the voice of Mr. Mitsotakis, I think.

Journalist: Are you the Prime Minister, are you Mr. Mitsotakis?

Kyriakos Mitsotakis: The same. Haven’t I told you that I take phone calls to local radio stations because I always make sure to listen to what you have to say?

Journalist: Of course, Prime Minister, but I knew you were here and I said, he can’t, he listens to so many radios, won’t he call once on my show?

Kyriakos Mitsotakis: Here, that’s where I got it.

Journalist: Well, thank you for listening. How was your time in Evosmos, please tell us.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis: It was nice in Evosmos, there were a lot of people. As you know it is a Municipality with many problems and one of the reasons I was in Thessaloniki today is to talk about the challenges and opportunities especially in Western Thessaloniki.

We have announced a number of important projects which we are launching with secured funding and it was an opportunity – of course also in the context of the pre-election period that has started – to talk to citizens, share some thoughts with them, wish them a happy Easter and renew the appointment us for my next visit to Thessaloniki, because obviously there will be several more before the elections.

Journalist: When will you come back, President, shall we get an umbrella?

Kyriakos Mitsotakis: Since you say that, I can tell you right now that our final gathering will take place outside and you can be absolutely sure that it won’t rain, so you don’t need to have an umbrella with you.

Journalist: Yes, I am very happy about that. May I ask something else Prime Minister? Let me ask you the following: will you finally go to a debate with Alexis Tsipras? Because I want to confess something to you, because you came here to Status and gave a very nice interview when we first opened to Dimitris Venieris and Virginia Dimaresis, I say not to call him the Prime Minister on my show. I am chasing Alexis Tsipras, but he is not coming, I don’t know why.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis: I came anyway, even by phone even for a while.

Journalist: You came, and thank you, even unannounced.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis: As you know, there are rules that govern the debates that take place in the pre-election period, obviously all the political leaders participate and of course I am also available at any time to hold a debate, as the law provides, so that citizens can be fully informed about the parties’ positions.

Beyond that, however, I want to remind you, because Mr. Tsipras insists a lot on debate, that we have had more than 80 debates in the Parliament. The Parliament, moreover, is the place where we cross, I would say, our arguments and our political swords.

Journalist: Right.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis: I do not think that the citizens no longer know my positions or the positions of Mr. Tsipras.

I think that because they also have the opportunity in this electoral contest to compare the current Prime Minister with the former Prime Minister, Mr. Tsipras ruled for four years from 2015 to 2019, I another four years from 2019 to 2023, I think that comparisons can be made easily and I would say quite effortlessly.

But since the crisis of the Greek people is the one that ultimately determines who will govern the country, until the elections we will present our arguments, we will talk about what we have done, about the difficulties we faced and what we want to do .

I will remind the citizens that we were consistent in our basic commitments, the pre-election ones, despite the great difficulties that befell us, because Greece today, despite the difficulties, is in a much better situation than it was in 2019.

Journalist: Me anyway, President, since it’s noon, I really like what you say, but on my own show I’d like to ask you another question because I’m taking it easy after Vularino here. Because it’s noon.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis: Yes, I understood that, yes.

Journalist: Exactly, I’m relaxing it a bit..

Kyriakos Mitsotakis: I’m starting to worry, so tell me.

Journalist: Since it’s noon and we’re hungry now, me and Virginia were hungry, I imagine you would be hungry too, President, weren’t you hungry at such a time?

Kyriakos Mitsotakis: I’m hungry too, I must tell you, and I’m heading…

Reporter: Where are you going?

Kyriakos Mitsotakis: I am now heading to a Counseling Center because one of the issues that I am sure you are also raising is the issues of the abuse of women and how we all need to be aware of a phenomenon that certainly existed before but now has come to the surface, possibly with even greater intensity.

And then I will be in the renovated Stoa Modiano to see a major private investment that has been made in the city, among the many that are underway in a city that is now at the center of tourist interest. I want to tell you that all the indications we have for this year’s tourist season are excellent. Thessaloniki has now become a destination in itself as a city break all year round. I think this is something that you and I imagine the many professionals who are active around tourism also attest to.

Journalist: That’s true.

Journalist: Before Efi Pafitou asks you the burning question why Efi has other things on her mind and I do, it is logical…

Journalist: That’s why we match.

Journalist: Let me ask you a question if you can answer soon, because I understand that your time is limited, regarding the developments with the matter of the Supreme Court, because today we also had the resignation of Mr. Tzanerikos.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis: Yes, I had the opportunity to position myself on this issue in Evosmos. Look and see: The government is bringing an additional amendment which shields even more the ability of the entire division of the Supreme Court to make the relevant decision and judge, based on the law we have voted, whether an organization whose real leader is effectively convicted of criminal acts, he can participate in the next election. You understand that it is an extremely critical decision and tomorrow is the last day of Parliament, an extremely critical parliamentary process. And everyone will ultimately be judged by their choices.

It is inconceivable to me, I tell you frankly, that we should not be able to put together a broad democratic wall of defense against the prospect of criminals returning to parliament. We paid them dearly.

So, I call on your frequency and all the parties and especially the Official Opposition, which has a completely incomprehensible attitude, to revise its point of view. To vote on the relevant amendment. Let’s empower all judges to make this important decision.

We respect the decision of the Court. But we also know that we have a strict legal framework that judges must apply. All the rest are prefaces in sin.

Journalist: Anyway, President, SYRIZA said it will not vote.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis: He commits a major mistake. And of course, I’m sorry to say, in this way he basically looks like he doesn’t really want to achieve what we all want. This is to exclude Golden Dawn from being able to participate in the elections. But, I also want to remind you that this is not the first time that selective, I would say, relations of SYRIZA with Golden Dawn have been identified.

They had voted together in the previous Parliament, essentially in 2014, they voted together so that we could not then elect a President of the Republic and for the Parliament to be dissolved in order to go to the early elections. Without wanting to make any identification, I want to emphasize that this moment is a moment of maximum democratic responsibility for everyone.

Tomorrow’s vote is crucial and if SYRIZA abstains and the Areios Pagos finally does not allow the Kasidiaris party to enter Parliament, then I wonder what SYRIZA will say next.

Journalist: We asked this morning to a SYRIZA member of parliament, it was exactly my question, Mr. Prime Minister. Shall we close with something more relaxed? Because at some point you too will eat here Thessaloniki, you have eaten our delicious food here other times. I don’t know if the elections will be a derby. Is the Athens-Thessaloniki gastronomy a derby?

Kyriakos Mitsotakis: Thessaloniki has amazing cuisine and every time I come here, I am very happy because I see that it is developing and evolving more and more.

Journalist: Mr. Prime Minister, I want to ask you anyway, why I’m going to pop, sorry for the pop, I’m going to bang and put your favorite song below. Do we have a new one?

Kyriakos Mitsotakis: No, this is indeed a favorite song and I am very happy for the fans of a great rock band, Guns N’ Roses who will come to Athens again after a very, very long time.

Reporter: Don’t tell me you’re going?

Kyriakos Mitsotakis: Of course I will go.

Journalist: Will you take me with you?

Kyriakos Mitsotakis: As things go, we will be done with the elections and if everything goes well, we will look for some breaths of rest and fun. I will have to leave you because I am already on my next destination.

Journalist: One second, Mr. Prime Minister. I didn’t ask though. Because I would suggest you, if the debate takes place, to give Alexis Tsipras a plate of dolmadakis as a gift, because he trolled you a bit about dolmadakis and I wanted to ask, because you have eaten them from the best hands, from your late mother. Does your wife make dumplings?

Kyriakos Mitsotakis: I don’t hide my culinary preferences. My wife is trying her best, the truth is. The recipe is well known, it’s well on its way, I can tell you that.

Journalist: Thank you very much. Have a safe trip.

Journalist: Good luck.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis: Hello. Thank you very much.