Grigoris Dimitriadis is a complex individual who has gone from being the second most powerful man in the country to the center of a wiretapping case. A man of many talents, very intelligent, sometimes damn smart, he grew up in “Mitsotakeko” and along the way developed a close relationship with his uncle Kyriakos. From an early age, he was a child with a strong yet difficult – if not explosive – personality that brought him into conflict with his family environment. He always liked to refer to “grandfather” Mitsotakis, whose framed portrait dominated his office, and to emphasize the Cretan features of the family. For example, one of his favorite phrases was “we wear pants”, which he said to everyone he met for the first time.

Dimitriadis was close to his uncle when he became leader of the ND. He carried out special assignments, conducted the “casting” of people intended for responsible positions, and to some extent dealt with security issues.

Shortly before the elections, the question arose of who would be the strong man next to the next prime minister. The Prime Minister’s entourage raised many strong objections to the promotion of Dimitriadis to the role of “Chief of Staff”. At the time, Awe’s opponent was mainly Takis Theodorikakos, who handled communications and campaigning. But the lot was cast in favor of the “nephew”. It is said that some of the information he provided regarding the SYRIZA government’s surveillance of Mitsotakis’s staff played a decisive role in the decision.

An interlocutor who met him after the election in his new office recalled how he pointed to a stack of books on political strategy on his desk, noting that he himself “managed all of Kyriakos’ campaigns” after reading all relevant literature.

Dimitriadis very quickly took over all issues of internal and external security. All information passed through him, as well as relations with foreign agencies, cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, GETHA and, of course, EL.AS. The choice of persons for key positions in the special services was exclusively his, and the prime minister placed all responsibility on him. Inside Maximus, he completely dominated, controlling the flow of information and having access to the prime minister. “No one else was willing or able to handle some of the special cases that Grigoris handled,” commented the person who was at the same time at the center of the decision-making.

Relations with Antonis Samaras, for example, were considered extremely critical and difficult due to the old trauma from the conflict between the Messinian politician and Konstantinos Mitsotakis. Dimitriadis took control of the communications channel with great success.

He has largely succeeded in keeping the prime minister’s close circle of contacts.

At the same time, he created a “royal” system whereby anyone who did not go through his own channel and attempted to approach Mitsotakis directly either risked being castrated or went into a deep freeze. His omnipotence was absolute as the prime minister’s circle of trust narrowed, often due to slanderous “information” being directed against people in his wider circle.

Successfully overcoming crises, such as the Euros crisis, has raised its “shares” and made it an indispensable operator. And foreign interlocutors of the Prime Minister, from Israel to the US and London, praised his effectiveness.

However, at some point a phenomenon arose – an obsession with specific people who made an impression on his comrades, because they were very often a figment of the imagination and had no boundaries or barriers. “Sometimes he hung out with Dendias, sometimes with Hatzidakis, sometimes with Chrysochoidis and Kikilias, sometimes with other non-politicians, and very often with people from the prime minister’s inner circle,” recalled a person who worked closely with him. “The problem is that he made up incredible stories that were told where he stood, and not just behind the closed doors of the Prime Minister’s office,” continued the same person who Dimitriadis targeted, not understanding why. When someone insistently asked, “What are you talking about X?”, he responded with a wink, “I know what I’m talking about.”

The pinnacle of his personal influence was, according to various sources, changes in the structure of the government in August 2021, which is essentially the only personnel reshuffle of Mitsotakis. Since then, some have seen slips and movements as personal obsessions of the Secretary General of the government, especially in areas he wanted to control completely. Even in the storms of that reformation that failed – as, for example, when trying to change the baton in the Ministry of Education – he is assigned the role of a driver. The removal of people from Maximus’ group is cited as evidence that “Grigoris was suspicious even of his own people”.

The combination of doing many and complex things at the same time increased the sense of omnipotence, but also the obsessions. In Maxim, as well as in the government as a whole, the conviction was established that “Grigoris cleans, but whoever contacts him, he solemnly loses.” Those few ministers and close associates of the prime minister who expressed some objections to his regime of work understood that the doors were closed to them.

This feeling of omnipotence was echoed by another phrase he often used when he wanted to say that his “enemy” would disappear politically: “He,” he said, “will meet his Maker.” As the person who worked with him commented, “It was a problem. He’d seen a lot of movies where the main characters spoke like that, and he kind of wanted to experience it.”

However, until that morning on August 5, no one could have imagined that Mitsotakis would rule without “Dimitriadis in his car”. And to this day, no one knows exactly what the two men said when they were locked in the prime minister’s office for about 45 minutes.

Relations are cold today. The prime minister’s associates claim that he was surprised that he became aware from August to the present about various events, inaccurate information, etc. Dimitriadis states that he is bitter, especially from those to whom he benefited, as he often emphasizes , – at the same time, he considers 2-3 people from the close circle of the prime minister guilty of his removal. The prime minister’s office expected him to spend a certain period of “contemplation” and removal from the “piats”. He himself does not show such a mood and at every opportunity says: “I’m not that kind of guy, I’m not going to disappear. I told you, I wear pants.”