Picking a side

In 1992, at the height of the political controversy in Greece over the name dispute with Skopje, Prime Minister Konstantinos Mitsotakis, irked by Foreign Minister Antonis Samaras for refusing to agree to any name that would include the word “Macedonia,” succumbed to fear of a backlash from his party’s right-wing faction and, instead of pursuing the policy he had chosen – that is a compromise with the neighboring country – decided to put the decision on what position the country would adopt to its political leaders. The council of political leaders was called, and while Mitsotakis ousted Samaras from his post, he adopted his position on the issue, as did the other political leaders: Greece would not recognize a name containing “Macedonia.”

The country thus embarked on a diplomatic tug-of-war to convince the international community that allowing “Macedonia” in the newly established state’s name posed an expansionist threat against Greece. (I actually remember a foreign journalist asking, in jest, whether we’d mind if the country were called “Big Mac.”) The result: Most countries started calling it “Macedonia,” only for Greece, 27 years later, to agree to the name “North Macedonia” with relations between the two countries never really having become properly normalized.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ recent decision to nominate a sitting MP of his New Democracy party, Konstantinos Tasoulas (an otherwise capable party official), as president of Greece reminded me of the name dispute and what it cost the country.

The prime minister decided to capitulate to pressure from the right-wing faction of his party, which insisted on a president from New Democracy’s ranks

Instead of pressing on with the centrist shift that got him elected by a landslide and earned his party an incredible 41% of the vote in the 2023 parliamentary elections – and abiding by a tradition that is 30 years old – by nominating a center-left president or backing the successful incumbent, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, the prime minister decided to capitulate to pressure from the right-wing faction of his party, which insisted on a president from New Democracy’s ranks.

And this is not Mitsotakis’ first shift to the right: He replaced the successful Margaritis Schinas with Apostolos Tzitzikostas as Greece’s European commissioner; he included ethnic-Greek Albanian politician Fredi Beleri on ND’s European Parliament ticket; there was the approval of Greek citizenship for members of the former royal family; the decision to remove his economic adviser Alex Patelis (a fervent supporter of the gay marriage act) from his role shortly before the vote on the budget; and, of course, the decision not to renew the term of Sakellaropoulou, who became a target of ND’s right wing for attending a party with members of the LGBTQ community.

The PM’s office claims that such shifts are designed to rally conservative voters who did not participate in the European elections or who have turned to parties to the right of New Democracy.

Be that as it may, the prime minister needs to choose. Is he a reformist who aspires to transform the country into a European state with strong institutions, a capable welfare system and state apparatus, and a dynamic economy? Or does he want to appear to be flirting with the populist right, with voters who opposed the scrapping of religion on ID cards, the name deal with Skopje, and reforms of the civil service, who want a rapprochement with Moscow and fiscal disaster? By pandering to the right, Mitsotakis may indeed win back a few fanatics who drifted to the Greek Solution, Voice of Reason and Niki parties, but he also risks losing the centrists who once voted for PASOK but more recently backed his reformed ND because they believed in his reformist policies.

And while it would be reasonable, in such unfortunate circumstances for Mitsotakis, to expect the main opposition chief, Nikos Androulakis, to make it clear that PASOK represents the reformist center, he came out talking about a potential coalition with other center-right parties instead. In politics, as in life, one needs to learn who to stick with and who to drop.