The veteran politician told me jokingly, but in the depths of his soul with great seriousness: the way the political scene has developed – he meant the considerable hardships that N.D. now bears – there is no greater gift from Tsipras Mitsotakis than a simple analogy. And he explained: at the first vote in 4 years, citizens always express their dissatisfaction. “If there weren’t a simple analogy, we would have moved on to logic once and for all,” he notes, adding that now citizens can send a message to the government, which in less than a month will be able to “collect” it. He even reminded me that in the European elections of 2019, which was the first in 4 years, SYRIZA gained 23.7%, and shortly after that in the national elections it rose by almost 8 points. Should Mitsotakis please Tsipras?

Crossword

When asked if they want “continuation” or “change”, citizens in all polls respond in favor of “change” by more than 60% consistently, causing headaches for the government, which is looking for a way to express this trend in slogans. . How to express change while already in government is the question to be answered, and Maximos’ staff are looking for a way to fit “stability” and “change” into the same campaign slogan. Like a crossword puzzle for strong solvers.

Embassies have been unlocked

After long negotiations and numerous delays, a directive from Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias to use objective criteria for filling positions in embassies and consulates general unblocked the process. Of the roughly 30 embassy transfers that were supposed to be resolved by the service board on Friday, 10 ended up going through, citing resignations or problems that couldn’t wait. The only exceptions are the embassies of Ankara (Christodoulos Lazaris), Moscow (Katerina Nasika) and Tel Aviv (Kyriakos Loukakis), which, due to their strategic importance, will be decided by the next government. Thus, it was decided to place new ambassadors in Tunisia, in Amman (Irini Riga), in New Delhi (Aliki Kutsomitopoulou), in Mexico City (where Nikos Kotrokois went, destined for Tripoli, Libya, which did not happen in the end). , in Ottawa (Katerina Dimaki) and in Brussels (Efimyos Kostopoulos). It was also decided to send ambassadors to Panama and a consul general to Manchester, UK, as these are two newly created diplomatic bodies.

To Maximos

Optimism is not a bad feeling as long as it is moderate. In N.D. some make plans for the next day, but count without a hotelier – see Kyriakos Mitsotakis. As a competent source told me, practically no one can be sure that it will be in the next format, as if N.D. take power again “Mitsotakis will consider everything from the beginning.” Those in the know say that there are almost certainly only three people in Maximos: Giannis Bratakos, Akis Skertsos and Stavros Papastavrou. As for the latter, I’m willing to bet that he will be in the state.