Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis left the door open to cooperation with former Prime Minister Antonis Samaras in an interview on radio station Parapolitika 90.1—but only on one condition: Samaras must not insist on a prime minister other than Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
A new party—and a potential threat
Referring to speculation that Samaras may launch a new political party, Georgiadis said: “I believe he will form a party. It’s clear that Samaras could hurt us electorally among conservative voters—he’ll inevitably draw some of our support.”
He reiterated that collaboration would be possible only if Samaras dropped his precondition of replacing Mitsotakis as premier: “If Mr. Samaras hadn’t made ‘another prime minister’ a non-negotiable condition, I’d tell you plainly: should the Greek people elect him to Parliament, we’d talk to him just as we do with other parties. But if his demand is ‘not Mitsotakis,’ then that’s simply not feasible.”
On the clash with Alexis Tsipras
Asked about his recent public exchange with Alexis Tsipras over the new Criminal Codes, Georgiadis remarked: “I called him a ‘thief’—he hasn’t filed a complaint, and everyone understood the context. Let’s move on. I believe he’ll come to his senses, stop this… He didn’t send me flowers. Tsipras played the part of the Chinese man—or, colloquially, ‘the duck’: it was obvious he couldn’t take this matter to court. And to this day, Tsipras hasn’t once explained why he kept Parliament in session to rush through the new Criminal Codes. Will he do so now?”
On polling and political strategy
Commenting on a recent GPO poll showing New Democracy (ND) and the newly formed ELAS as the top two parties, Georgiadis suggested Tsipras had consciously begun dismantling SYRIZA after his 2023 electoral defeat: “That night in 2023, Tsipras realized—if SYRIZA doesn’t dissolve, he’ll be politically destroyed. So he launched a plan to dismantle it. So far, it’s working. The numbers he’s pulling now match exactly what he got in the 2023 elections—he hasn’t achieved anything remarkable.”
Regarding ND’s 12-point lead over ELAS in the same poll, Georgiadis emphasized: “Politics is comparative. In this survey, Mitsotakis wins by 12 points.”
When asked what happens if current polling reflects actual election results, he replied: “We’ll hold elections. Democracy has no dead ends. The Constitution says: try to form a government; if you can’t, Parliament dissolves. Elections continue until a government is formed—that’s exactly what the Constitution prescribes.”
Responding to journalists’ note that the Constitution allows coalition or special-purpose governments, Georgiadis added: “That’s permitted—if parties are willing to cooperate. Do you see any problem with us cooperating with anyone?”
On PASOK leader Nikos Androulakis, Georgiadis criticized his vote in favor of what he called a “foolish article”—though the Greek source text cuts off before completing the remark.