How they saw the Karamanlis speech in the South: The ‘no’ for the Presidency of the Republic and the dispute over the Samara erasure

With special attention they attended yesterday (22.11.2024) at night in his speech from Patras, with Maximos and Piraeus avoiding making any comment. Within the New Republic they were not surprised with the support of the former Prime Minister in Antonis Samaras for his deletion, given their “tanglement” in recent times, while several executives even described the position of Costas Karamanlis as not interested in the Presidency of the Republic. A scenario burned with A. Samaras’ early public proposal, as they appreciated, and the former Prime Minister himself has long stated to his interlocutors that he does not find such a prospect attractive, due to the limited powers of the Head of State. What Mr Karamanlis said about the deletion of Samaras Speaking in the presentation of George Harvalia’s book “Yavol” , in Patras, Mr Karamanlis took clear distances from the decision of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to delete Samaras, after the “canons” he launched against the government and himself. “The other opinion, different reading and even intense criticism should not be demonized. And yet they are not treated with disciplinary measures, even making it more difficult for the necessary national unity to support the national line,” said Mr Karamanlis. “I am not interested in the Presidency of the Republic” As for the office of President of the Republic, the former president of the New Republic said he was honored by the thought of former Prime Minister Antonis Samara, but he doesn’t embrace her. “I want to make it clear that this is neither my concern nor my interest,” he stressed. Against… “integrity” In other words, Mr Karamanlis spoke about the dangers of ‘unstated rights’, pointing out the impact the issue had on the recent election in the US and also in European countries. “Many see the social state shrink, opportunities for young people especially minimized, their standard of living downgraded. The result is to undermine social cohesion and political normality and stability. More and more European citizens are questioning the current economic and political system. If these are added to the extreme right which affects traditional values, the very roots of European identity, the mixture tends to become explosive. Disturbing, discontent becomes indignation and anger. And they pour oil on the fire those who from the headquarters scornfully shake the finger to the citizens,” he said. “The aversion to the arrogant elite is in danger of turning into a legalization of democratic state in the eyes of the citizens, with the great dangers this entails. These are not scenarios of the ultimate future. The crisis is already here,” he added. Marks on Greek-Turkish Regarding Greek-Turkish, Kostas Karamanlis did not adopt the harsh criticism Samaras and moved about the line he has followed to this day, “kroning” at the same time, “the alarm of danger” for Ankara’s revision tactics. She spoke of the need for Greece to fight its battles and “to claim its rights” … “To contribute to the awakening of Europe, to finally assume its responsibilities. Starring in stabilisation and the prospect of normality in the Balkans. With strict messages to undisclosed or even hidden grandiose. To deal effectively with Turkey’s aggression and revisionism,” he said. With reference to Greece’s standing position that the only difference we have with Turkey is the demarcation of the AEZ and the continental shelf, Mr Karamanlis stressed that “the issues that Turkey attempts to put on the agenda are unsistakable”. “It is either national sovereignty or sovereign rights solidly founded on International Law or the demilitarization of the islands. Turkey should also forget this and those international players who encourage or tolerate them,” he stressed. At the same time the former Prime Minister said that Greece should continue “to support the multi-ethnic Cyprus”, while he noted that there must be… “strong armed forces, credible deterrent capacity, active multidimensional foreign policy, clear messages to all, above all national unity and understanding”. ‘Game’ in Germany on the question of German compensation In the wake and recent visit by the German President Steinmeyer to Greece, he attacked Berlin for refusing to consider the issue of German compensation to our country. “Germany is not enough to recognise only in its words its responsibilities for the disasters it caused in Greece, but must do so in practice. It is, above all, an issue of international and European legitimacy. The repayment of the occupation loan, which was necessarily concluded, was never waived and Greece never resigned from it. But compensation for human losses and material disasters were never granted,” the former Prime Minister said, noting that instead… they were simply transferred for the time when Germany would have the statehood that would allow it to undertake these obligations. “Her refusal, as we have heard recently, makes apologies and verbal regrets, hypocritical and ulterior motives,” added Mr. Karamanlis. “Germany has often strayed the EU” The attack on Germany was… multi-front. She accused her of making the economy the vehicle of her great influence on European things “and often of her hegemony in them”, as she said, and that “many times she strayed the EU from its true meaning, resulting in the belief of European citizens in the European vision being shaken.” The reference to the Memoranda At the same time, Mr Karamanlis made a special reference to the Memoranda, however avoiding highlighting in depth the reasons why the country reached this point. “We lost 30% of our national income,” he said, noting that the policies of the Memoranda were “extremely revealing” since “and at levels of effectiveness failed, and in her arrest also had in principle the concept of punishment and exemplaryism,” he said. “Economic inequalities expanded, large sections of the peoples marginalized,” he added. The former prime minister did not hide his concern about the Western Balkans, he described “dangerous” the extension of the conflict in Ukraine, with “a possibility of spreading it to neighbouring areas”, while hitting the “threat bell” and the situation in the Middle East.