Kyriakos Mitsotakis: “New Democracy is an elderly party”

New Democracy MP and party leader candidate Kyriakos Mitsotakis argued that his party an ‘elderly party’ that has lost touch with large sections of Greek society and underlined the need for renewal on all levels. Mr. Mitsotakis, who argued that his party’s main set of values remain “highly relevant”, admitted to Mega Channel that “young people do not vote for us and do not listen to us”.

According to Mr. Mitsotakis, New Democracy was focus on renewing its ‘brand name’ and turn to center-right liberal policies, in order to attract younger voters. As such, he explained that the association between education and the real economy must be underlined, along with the importance of private investments and the private sector.

Regarding his tenure as Minister of Administrative Reform, he claimed that he did not set himself against all civil servants and estimated that many viewed his initiatives and proposals on evaluations with “great interest”. Mr. Mitsotakis stated that the public sector is in need of greater reform, not dismissals.

Later on his interview, Mr. Mitsotakis praised the outgoing provisional leader Evangelos Meimarakis and asserted that he was unable to do everything he wanted to do because he was ‘not legitimized with an election’. Mr. Mitsotakis also declared his intention to change the New Democracy’s statute so that the party leader is evaluated every three to four years.

Finally, he claimed that while a center-left party can see the peaceful co-existence of right-wing and centrist politicians, “from the fringes of social democracy to the traditional right”, he was quick to add that a party will face problems when the old mechanisms are in charge. Mr. Mitsotakis commented that he has no interest in dealing with the traditional factions within his party.

When asked to comment n the candidacy of Apostolos Tzitzikostas, he responded that he is a likeable young man with fresh ideas, but given that he is not an elected MP, it would be problematic if the party president was not the head of ND’s parliamentary group.