Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who largely won the legislative elections in Greece on Sunday, is a conservative who has highlighted the recovery of the economy after the financial debacle, but he is also accused of worrying attacks on the rule of law.
The leader of New Democracy (ND), Prime Minister from 2019 at the end of May, regains his chair as head of government. His party secured an absolute majority of 157 out of 300 seats of deputies, according to partial results.
During the campaign, this 55-year-old man, close to Manfred Weber, the German boss of the European People’s Party (EPP), promised salary increases while the cost of living and low incomes remain the main concerns of the Greeks.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis has also pledged to carry out massive hiring in the public health sector, which has suffered from a glaring lack of resources since the crisis.
His first term was marked by the revival of a still convalescent economy when he came to power in 2019 after years of drastic austerity plans during which the country lost a quarter of its gross domestic product (GDP). ).
Last year, growth reached 5.9%.
But in March he faced a wave of anger the likes of which had not been seen since he came to power after a train disaster that claimed 57 lives and was blamed on gross negligence in train signaling systems.
Coming from a large political family and at the head of an important real estate heritage, his arrogance is pointed out by his opponents, in the first place the leader of Syriza (left), Alexis Tsipras.
Over the past four years, Mr. Mitsotakis has given security a twist, including a strengthening of the police system.
His tenure has also been marred by scandals, including one – resounding – over the illegal wiretapping of politicians and journalists by the spyware Predator.
Omnipresent on social networks, he has pursued an aggressive communication policy, in a media landscape marked by the concentration of major titles and television channels in the hands of large financial groups.
He also faces recurring accusations of refoulement of migrants to neighboring Turkey before they have been able to submit their asylum application within the European Union.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis has always denied these practices, yet attested to by videos and detailed investigations by the major international media.
“If he gets away with it, it’s because of a new form of populism (…) without abusive rhetoric, without eccentricity, without fuss” like Viktor Orban (Hungary) or Donald Trump (States States), recently judged the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung.
After the deadly sinking, on June 14, of a boat carrying hundreds of migrants off the coast of the Peloponnese, Mr. Mitsotakis took up the defense of the Greek coast guards, implicated by NGOs and survivors for their slowness in intervening .
He also defended a “fair but strict” migration policy and promised, in the spring, to extend the “anti-migrant wall” erected at the Greek-Turkish land border.
His four years in power have been marked by the decline of the rule of law and freedom of the press, to the point that Greece has been at the bottom of the EU’s annual ranking since last year. Reporters Without Borders, behind Hungary and Poland.
Coming from a Cretan political dynasty, Kyriakos Mitsotakis is the son of former Prime Minister Konstantinos Mitsotakis (1990-1993).
His sister was notably Minister of Foreign Affairs. One of his nephews is the current mayor of Athens, another was his close adviser until 2022.
A graduate of the American University of Harvard, Kyriakos Mitsotakis pursued a career as a financial adviser in London, notably at McKinsey, before taking up the family political torch.
Deputy ND for the first time in 2004, he was in particular Minister of the Reform of the administration at the peak of the crisis. He then proceeded to massive cutbacks in the civil service.
In 2016, a year after the defeat of his camp against the left of Alexis Tsipras, he was elected leader of New Democracy, before coming to power three years later.
06/26/2023 04:39:24 – Athens (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
