8 years have passed since the last debate between political leaders. Eight years that changed everything in the country. In a Greece that 8 years ago was trapped in the vise of memorandums, a Greece that was trying to stay afloat after its -vastly- bankruptcy and a world that experienced a pandemic, war and energy crisis. 2023 is a milestone year. This year’s elections will determine the course of the country for the next 4 years, a four-year period that can be paralleled as the gateway to a new world, as it has been shaped after the pandemic and as it is being shaped in the midst of a war and a new West-Russia cold war period .

The debate is considered decisive ahead of the May 21 elections, as the positions that the political leaders will express, the way they will support their positions, their reactions, are likely to influence a sufficient percentage of the voters and even determine the final result at the polls.

Watch live:

Economy, development, employment section

The first thematic section concerns the economy, development and employment with Sia Kosioni focusing on the first question to the Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis on the subject of accuracy and inflation.

“The problem of inflation is global, food prices remain high. Greater transparency in prices and more competition, extraordinary support for households, permanent increases in wages and reduction of taxes are the three ways of intervention. I am discussing an extension of the Market Pass in the last half of this year” said Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Question from Antonis Schroiter about the SYRIZA program:

Tsipras: There is a need to raise salaries for civil servants. There is also income from the taxation of excess profits. Our program will benefit the vast majority but will cost some, especially those with super profits.

Which journalists are participating?

Opposite the political leaders will sit, in alphabetical order, the journalists of the six national television channels. Namely, Mara Zacharea (STAR), Sia Kosioni (SKAI), Giorgos Papadakis (ANT1), Antonis Schroiter (ALPHA), Panagiotis Stathis (OPEN) and Rania Tzima (MEGA).

How the political leaders will sit

In Ertnews studio 4 the political leaders will be seated from left to right based on the parliamentary strength of the parties. That is, first the president of the ND and Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis and then the president of SYRIZA-PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE Alexis Tsipras, the president of PASOK-KINAL Nikos Androulakis, the general secretary of the Central Committee of the KKE Dimitris Koutsoubas, the president of Hellenic Solution Kyriakos Velopoulos and the secretary of MERA25, Yanis Varoufakis.

As for the procedure

As it was decided, each journalist’s question will last thirty seconds and the answer of the political leader should not exceed 1.5 minutes. Then there will be a right to a follow-up question (supplementary/clarifying question on the same topic) lasting 15 seconds and a 45-second answer.

It was decided by lottery that Sia Kosioni will be the first journalist to ask a question, while the cycle of thematic sections will close with a question from Mara Zachareas.

The thematic sections

As already announced by the inter-party committee, the thematic sections in which the political leaders will be asked to be placed are six:

1. Economy, Development, Employment,

2. Foreign Policy and Defense,

3. State, Institutions, Transparency,

4. Health, Education and Welfare State,

5. Environment and Energy and

6. New Generation