“We didn’t remember the citizens before the elections, we haven’t learned to behave like that in the world. We were there both in the good times and in the hard times,” emphasized the government representative Pavlos Marinakis at the meeting of the Political Committee of the New Democracy.

For the new secretary of the ND Maria Syregela Mr. Marinakis noted that she is a worthy woman, an executive who in essence loves ONNED and New Democracy, but above all a person who knows how to achieve results. “Maria and I met for the first time together at Diagrammatiakos in the battles of 2019. Her dedication and the way she manages to unite are impressive,” he emphasized.

The speech of Pavlos Marinakis in detail

“Dear Mr. Prime Minister and our President, President of the New Republic,
Mr. Vice-Presidents,
Mr. President of the Electoral Commission,
ladies and gentlemen Ministers, ladies and gentlemen Members of Parliament,
dear members of the Political Committee,

I do not hide it from you, that it is a special speech, a charged speech and a very important day for me.

And as soon as I arrived here at “our home”, at our offices, in Piraeus, images of these two very important years, separate for me and for all of us, began to pass more and more vividly in front of me.

So, I began to wonder what has changed since that first Political Committee until today. Certainly, another member is waiting for me at home, this is a first change, an important one.

However, the first thing that came to my mind is that November 2021 Pre-Congress in Ioannina. Mr. Bratakos, our Minister, is also remembered here.

And before I say anything else, I want to say a very big, a sincere thank you to Kyriakos Mitsotakis, our Prime Minister, our President.

Mr. President, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for the opportunity, the honor, the trust, but above all the support. And to me and to all of us, to the whole team, which was much bigger than what they seem, a much more substantial and valuable legacy for what we will do, for all our next steps. For the opportunities, for the honor to currently represent the Government and for everything that comes with us all together.

Friends,
in order not to bore you and not give you the report in detail, anyway very basic elements were analyzed by the President and I heard them with great joy and satisfaction for this team that we have run all these years, I will not present the report in detail . But allow me to focus on some points that marked me during the two years that I had the honor of being the Secretary of the Political Committee of the New Democracy, the largest center-right party in Europe.

The first and most important is our contact with citizens throughout Greece. 91 tours, the Prime Minister pointed out, took place in these two years, many of them at his side, despite his increased government duties. And of course, yes indeed, we “tired” our Parliamentary Group and the Ministers quite a bit. 123 tours, many cycles before the TIF, before the elections, but most importantly, throughout our tenure.

We did not remember the citizens before the elections, we have not learned how to behave in the world. We were there in both the easy and the difficult. And you know, each tour for me personally and for all the others, Stelios Kontadakis, who together we ran everywhere throughout Greece, all the other executives, was a separate chapter in a wonderful journey. People who either traditionally belonged to our area, or who came to talk to us, opened their homes and businesses to us, but also opened their hearts to us. And you know, we didn’t just go to hear the pleasantries. This is what the President asked us, we also heard the unpleasant ones. We also heard their concerns, their problems, what they faced every day. And what we did at the end of each week was to write a report to the Prime Minister and the relevant Ministers and try to be useful.

The second thing, which I consider to be very important these two years, is that I was also a link in the chain of Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ great effort for substantial renewal. Renewal with substance. Not with slogans, not with “old” materials, not a renewal that at the end of the day seems older than anything else.

It is very important that during these years, our ballots were renewed and indeed a very large part of people who fought for the first time in the parliamentary elections were from the younger generations – as the Prime Minister pointed out – after the historic and most massive Congress, we had a 75% renewal and a 9 year drop in the age of the Political Committee. We saw cadres from the youth as well as young people who had never been involved in politics, coming in and staffing the party secretariats, the party sectors and together with the experienced cadres doing an excellent job.

And what I want to tell you, in front of you, is that I will never stop fighting for real renewal. Together with the most experienced executives, they are the best yeast for our faction to go even further, always in the interest of the country.

The third is that throughout this journey, through the Political Academies, the 78 political and thematic events here in our offices, in Attica, throughout Greece, we spoke with arguments, we spoke with positive words, we spoke with substance. Far from slogans of the past, shouts and populism.

We tried to tell the society, the citizens, through discussions in Municipalities, through discussions in chambers, in professional organizations, to analyze the government’s work, to talk with examples and with arguments. We avoided a toxic conflict. And through these Political Academies here in the offices, we sat for hours together with the relevant Ministers, to discuss many times what needs to be changed in some bills and essentially so that the party is even more useful for the Government and overall for the life of the place.

The fourth is that we showed, once again, the social face of New Democracy. Because unfortunately, here too, I think it is very relevant that in a short time we will complete five decades of life and our Democracy and the New Democracy, we have grown into a faction that is tired of seeing some others claim the “monopoly” on sensitivity and progressivism. We do it with actions. We were there in every extreme natural phenomenon, whenever it was requested by our executives and by the citizens. We gave from our backlog, all our members, to the front line to support our fellow citizens. Too many voluntary initiatives, intense social action with a strong footprint without drumbeat.

And of course the fifth, it is really important to do all this together with the most important factor to achieve it: people. Nothing happens without people. And a great success, I think, of Kyriakos Mitsotakis as President of New Democracy, is that he managed to build a group that keeps growing, of people who put “I” behind and put “we” forward.

So, I want to say a special big thank you first to the two General Managers, with whom I had the honor to work. First and foremost to Yiannis Bratakos, for me he will always be the General Manager, a man who to me personally and to all the others offered and offers many, very substantial things. And of course to Yannis Smyrlis, a good friend from the years of youth, a little older – to avoid misunderstanding – who I don’t know how many hours we spent in these offices, but also in total to run these parliamentary elections. Stelios Kontadakis, the Organizational Secretary, a valuable travel companion, a man who opened the door of his office, welcomed me and was essentially the most valuable partner, the valuable travel companion, I will never go on so many Secretariat trips with anyone else in my life.

He singles out the Secretaries of the Party, the Heads of Sectors, the youth, the President of ONNED and all the children of the executive office, our executives, the organizations throughout Greece, the DEEP, the local ones, the presidents, the councils of course our Parliamentary Group. I can say that we did not miss a moment in each prefecture and we went many times to other prefectures and of course the executives of the Council of Ministers, the members of the Council of Ministers, for all this cooperation.

What, however, I think we should by no means omit, and I pick up the baton from where the Prime Minister very characteristically left it, is every New Democrat and every New Democrat. So, I owe a very big thank you, you know because I too am a person who grew up in this Faction, this is what I tried to tell you in my first speech, a very big thank you to those and those who did not miss a moment from the Faction . Who remained in the difficult times, who gave difficult battles in the times of great populism in society, in the universities, who never asked for anything, only gave and continue to give to the Party. So, to these people I want to say that it was a great honor for me to be the Secretary of New Democracy.

And coming to the end, a circle closes, a very important circle has opened, with a huge responsibility next to the Prime Minister, I want to refer to Maria Syregela.

Maria Syregela is a worthy woman, an executive who in essence loves ONNED and New Democracy, but above all a person who knows how to achieve results. Maria and I met for the first time together in Diagrammatiakos in the battles of 2019. Her dedication and the way she manages to unite are impressive.

This is what the faction needs, to unite more and more new executives, people who want to come to us and run alongside our President and Prime Minister of all Greeks. So, together with Maria, by the side of the Prime Minister, all the executives of the New Democracy, I will fight as I have been doing, for as long as I can remember, all the battles that are coming.

And yes, we will all together remember the heavy legacy of the New Democracy from its founding by the Nationalist, Konstantinos Karamanlis, until today. We will remember how we have always been and we will be on the right side of history. As a link, each of us, of a historical chain that many times, many times, preferred to make difficult, unpleasant decisions, but never made any decision against the country.

So, I have all this inside me, I keep it very strong for the next steps of life.

A very big thank you again, it was a great honor. Thank you”.