PROBLEM

Love and cough are not hidden. Wednesday afternoon at an IDIS (Institute of International Affairs) event commemorating the seventieth anniversary of Greece’s accession to NATO and Greek-American relations, MP Dimitris Kayridis praised the quiet but highly effective diplomat Vangelis Kalpadakis in front of an audience in person and online. adviser to Alexis Tsipras. Mr. Kayridis characteristically noted that the strengthening of Greek-American relations during the reign of SYRIZA (2015-19) owes much to Mr. Kalpadakis. The young diplomat was also at the time a diplomatic adviser to the then prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, and there were far more secret missions he carried out than is known. Mr. Cairides was kind, and rightly so.

DILEMMA

SYRIZA and PASOK have it, that is, the parties that have a de facto common goal to reduce the influence of the ND. The June 25 vote differs in many ways from the May 21 vote, and it appears that the opposition parties have not yet decided whether an “all-out attack” or some more positive agenda is the right tactic. This confusion can be seen mainly in the ease with which the government manages to push the two parties claiming the mantle of the centre-left into continuous and repeated mistakes. Obviously sardams and mistakes of leaders play a role, as does the “air” that ND possesses. after the May elections. But there is also a clear strategic confusion. SYRIZA fails to present itself as more centrist, and PASOK does not want to become more centrist so as not to alienate SYRIZA’s more left-wing audience. Difficult balance.

FACE

Heimarra mayor-elect Freddy Beleris remains in custody following his appeal hearing yesterday. Although an associate of Pantelis Kokavesis was released under restrictive conditions, Mr. Beleris remained in detention, which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said “is not in line with the rule of law and is not fair treatment of an elected representative of local government, since, according to the Special of the Albanian Prosecutor’s Office, he is the only person detained pending trial in a total of 31 complaints of electoral offences.” As I informed you yesterday, Foreign Minister Vassilis Kaskarelis informed his Albanian counterpart Olta Tsatska about this, explaining to her why the extension of Mr. Beleris’s detention was extremely problematic. The interesting thing about the case is that the negotiations with Mrs. Tsatskaya on the election of the mayor of Heimarras concern her personally. Her husband, Artan Gacci, a former MP from the ruling Socialist Party, has been described by the Albanian government as a “strategic investor” in building a hotel in Heimarra. Her political opponents have called for her removal from power in a case that was dismissed by the Constitutional Court a few months ago. In other words, this is a case with serious economic consequences affecting the core of the Albanian political system.

PLACE

Nice, Keratsini, western suburbs. There, in areas that SYRIZA considered its privileged field, Alexis Tsipras will try to limit the damage of May 21 in the coming days. Alexis Tsipras lost “his audience” 12 days ago and is now trying to limit the “damage”. Dionysis Theboneras, who gained attention on social media, was by his side when he met with EYDAP staff as Mr Tsipras focused on their work issues. What is the new strategy of the president of SYRIZA? To “collect” leaks towards smaller batches. From Keratsini, he stated that “the propaganda machine of N.D. he wants the opposition to have many disparate parties. He does not want a strong SYRIZA and is trying to prevent the unification of all those who were against Mitsotakis and did not vote for SYRIZA.”

ATTACK

“We did not wage enough ideological struggle against the ND. We have not convinced the citizens that we have some values.” This was stated to SKAI by former Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos, noting, in fact, that SYRIZA was investing in fear, instead of offering its own program. “I think that now, in the next period, we should not invest in fear, which we have done, and this is part of our criticism,” added Mr. Tsakalotos, stressing that “this is one of the things in which we should admit”. Such confessions from a prominent leader certainly help to understand and move away from the denial in which Kumunduru has found herself in recent weeks.