The Prime Minister Antonis Samaras spoke at his party’s conference ahead of the summer summit in Central Macedonia, where he attempted to build bridges of communication with government partners PASOK and DIMAR, while launching a scathing attack against opposition leaders SYRIZA.
Speaking of his government partners, Mr. Samaras explained that there are differences, “mostly ideological but the government has managed to stabilize the country and restore its credibility in 11 months in power”. Mr. Samaras spoke of a new climate heralding the transition from the “Grexit” to the “Greecovery” and accused SYRIZA of “poisonous populism” on the verge of “subverting” or “destabilizing” the progress achieved.
The PM referred to the IMF admission of errors on the first bail out package and announced that the matter will be discussed in Parliament. He also added that his party did not support the first rescue package “but we were ignored and the damage was done”.
Regarding illegal immigration, the Prime Minister claimed to have “ended the flow” and demanded a common European policy on the subject. Mr. Samaras did not explicitly refer to Golden Dawn, however he spoke out against “neo-Nazis”. The PM also brought up his theory of “two extremes” and accused SYRIZA of “serving the neo-Nazis when they ask for all immigrants to be legalized”.
Amongst the Ministers, MPs and other New Democracy officials present was former Prime Minister and ND president Kostas Karamanlis, who was applauded during his arrival at the «Makedonia Palace» hotel. The New Democracy summit will take place at the end of June (28-30) in Athens, where the party’s development and ideological reevaluation will be discussed. The motto for the summit will likely be “reconstruction, evolution, expansion”.
