Greek PM Mitsotakis: My expectation is that the country will be on the side of the winners

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis gave an interview in a different style, touching on many issues, on the ANT1 show, “The 2Night Show”. He commented on their relations with his political opponents as well as with his collaborators, referred to his meetings with European leaders and the Turkish president, analyzed his goals for the new four-year period, talked about his daily life, politics, wiretapping, the Health system, the achievements and omissions of the first four years, up to the communication through Tik Tok but also the cruelty of politics and the personal attacks that he and members of his family have received.

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The prime minister said that he is going into these elections calmer, more aware and more experienced perhaps after four years of dealing with great difficulties. “The elections are the culmination, I would say, of a four-year journey. It’s the moment when you have to talk to citizens, put to their judgment the work you’ve done and, of course, talk to them about the future,” he said.

He pointed out that although he grew up in a family that prepared him for what it means to be in an environment that is close to power, “the truth is that nothing prepares you for the burden of responsibility when you sit in that chair” and much more for a series of unforeseen crises such as those he was called upon to manage.

Mr. Mitsotakis spoke about his parents, his father’s sangfroid approach, which he tries to adopt to a certain extent and when asked to comment on it, he underlined the need to decriminalize mental health issues especially for the new generation, underlining: The big challenge for for us it is precisely to have structures that can provide this help for free, because not everyone can afford to get psychological help.

The challenge for the new generation

He also added: I believe that lately things are going better, despite this, the experiences are still very intense and there is a deep belief in the new generation that they will probably live worse than their parents. He pointed out that the challenge is to overturn this belief through actions.

He mentioned that the history of Greece is full of triumphs and disasters, a reference to Stathis Kalyvas’ book of the same title, he underlined that “what we went through was very, very heavy and we are struggling to make up lost ground” pointing out, however, that today things are much better than they were in 2019.

He spoke, when asked about what the government achieved in its first four years, but also the choice of his staff, about bribes, bureaucracy and the mechanisms to eliminate them in practice.

Regarding the prospect of one of his children wanting to get involved in politics, he pointed out: “The only thing I would say if any young child wanted to get involved in politics, I would only give him one piece of advice: make sure you have worked first. To have really stuck to it, to know what it means to make a living, to know what it means to have an employer and to be consistent with your obligations. And then, after you have a career, think again if you want to deal with the public.”

He then answered in 30 seconds Grigoris Arnautoglou‘s question “why should I vote for you?”.

He spoke about the need to make leaps for the next day of the National Health System.

Then, on the occasion of whether there is a “red phone” for direct communication with foreign leaders, he spoke about his relations and his contacts with European leaders and the Turkish president, as well as about the security of communications.

Asked to comment on “why can’t three young people work together that, I don’t know with the proven model of collaborations how it could work out…”, Mitsotakis said that the collaboration of three people with very different perceptions would eventually lead to paralysis for this and insists that there must be a stable, one-party government after the election. On a personal level, he expressed his bitterness for the attacks that, as he said, his wife has methodically received from SYRIZA. While for PASOK leader Mr. Androulakis, he said that he has not met him personally and is left with the question of how he is as a person.

He talked about his children, about the relationship with sports and proper nutrition, about how he relaxes and what he watches on TV, but also about school bullying, the Thessaloniki metro and the modernization of the railway network.

In fact, at the end of the interview, the prime minister received questions from a child in the role of journalist and answered them: if he wasn’t prime minister what would he like to be (a basketball player, or professor), what superpower would he like to have (time travel) while he refused the favor that the “little journalist” asked of him for his sister’s sake, to abolish the so-called test subject bank for examinations.