Aristide Hatzis: "Triumph and collapse"

I don’t remember any national elections that rewarded the government so impressively and crushed the opposition so decisively. But that’s not all, writes for Kathimerini Aristidis Hatzis, Professor of Legal Philosophy and Institutional Theory at the University of Athens.

“From 2009 onwards, the economic crisis has turned electoral processes into a meat grinder for prime ministers. G. Papandreou, A. Samaras and even A. Tsipras could not be re-elected for a second term after the election cycle, which included a memorandum. But Kyriakos Mitsotakis not only managed to win a second term, he managed to maintain political dominance, which, let me remind you, began simultaneously with his election to the New Democracy leadership in 2016. Even Andreas Papandreou, who absolutely dominated the 1980s, did not achieve anything as impressive.

A four-year period with the pandemic (which the Greek government has been nowhere near as successful in managing as it claims). During the years of Mitsotakis’ rule, numerous political scandals occurred, such as surveillance of the opposition, an accident that shook the country (Tempi), serious allegations of expulsion of migrants, an environmental disaster with fires in Evia and the vicinity of Athens, as well as numerous accusations of non-transparency, corruption and violation of the constitution, and other institutional failures.

But the Greek people rewarded Kyriakos Mitsotakis in such an impressive and incredible way, even with an electoral system that favored the opposite, that we cannot remain critics (although this is what we should do in the main), but we must determine the great successes of the government.

I think the biggest success was the restoration of the country’s prestige abroad. The image of Greece today is nothing like what it was in 2010-2014 or in the depressing 2015. It didn’t happen automatically or by chance. For example, the position of our government on the Ukrainian issue is a vivid example of a successful foreign policy that remains consistent in accordance with the fundamental principles of justice and at the same time uses this position in the interests of the country. Improving the international image is always associated with an improvement in the economic climate. This improvement led to a rapid economic recovery in 2021 (growth was 8.4% and remained at 5.9% in 2022).

Although the government did not handle the pandemic very well, the way it was managed in the first months and the organization of the vaccination made a positive impression on the Greeks, who are much more ready to welcome the reforms than we think. The digitization of the state has enhanced the image of the government like little else. Despite the mistakes and setbacks, the image of the New Democracy government was nothing like that of the government that came to replace it. And SYRIZA, even as an opposition, was a living memory of slovenliness, opportunism and toxicity. What began in 2012 looks set to end here in a devastating way.”

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