By Dora Antoniou

The field of stability, political and fiscal, is identified by the government leadership as a central front on which to evaluate the government’s performance and on this it places the comparison with the opposition. The Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakisunfolded his speech yesterday in the debate about budget based on stability. “To appreciate the value of political stability, which is ultimately a condition for any progress”, argued the prime minister. Previously, he had referred to the challenges faced by powerful EU countries, France, Italy, Germany, in budgeting, while he referred, on the occasion of his scheduled visit to Lebanon for today, to the fluid situation in the wider region and the role of our country “with the government firmly holding the helm of the place”.

The completion of the budget voting process formally closed the possibility of “aftershocks” from the removal of Antonis Samaras, which were not considered possible, but no one could rule out the element of surprise. The former prime minister chose to be absent from Parliament, while none of the MPs of the ruling party, who are considered to be of his influence, differed during the vote. On the contrary, the budget finally received 159 votes, as apart from the 155 deputies of the ND. it was also outvoted by four independents.

The stability of the ruling party is not disturbed and this is an element that the prime minister made sure to exploit in his speech, putting a four-year completion horizon and a mortgage for continuity. “Despite the difficulties and problems, despite the great challenges we face, only this government and the ND they can lead the country to the clearing, firmly holding the rudder in the waters of geopolitical instability,” he said in some disgust of his speech, while referring to the exhaustion of the four-year term: “I estimate that in 2027 the average salary will be over 1,500 euros, which is the central goal we have set. That’s what we said, that’s what we’ll do. This is the commitment we made to the Greek people.”

Along the same lines and to underline the government’s stability in contrast to the reshuffles in the opposition, he said: “A paradox is happening here. Elsewhere, governments are changing. On the contrary, the opposition is changing for us.” In fact, he made sure to contrast the current political situation with the actions of SYRIZA in 2015. “You overthrew an elected government, taking advantage of an institutional misspelling of the Constitution. Since then, Greece has progressed and left all this behind.”

In yesterday’s debate in Parliament, however, it was confirmed that Mr. Mitsotakis pits PASOK and Nikos Androulakis against him as his main opponent, whom he mentioned by name several times, responding to his speech, which preceded him on issues such as the housing crisis, accuracy, investments, wealth distribution and, of course, the issue of the banks.

It is worth noting, of course, that the prime minister wanted to show that he listens and shares the concerns of the Parliamentary Group of the ND… The extension of the exemption from pharmaceutical expenses to all pensioners, potential beneficiaries of EKAS, announced yesterday . Mitsotakis had been asked by a question submitted by eight MPs of the ruling party last October. While also on the matter of uniforms there were ferments inside K.O. and concern that it is a traditional party audience that should be catered for. These interventions also act as a nod to the MPs that his concerns are being heard.