Mitsotakis: After the carols, a break and decisions about the Presidency

With today’s carolsto the Prime Minister at his office in the Maximos Mansion, the curtain falls on the government before Christmas, as Kyriakos Mitsotakis has decided to take a few days off in Chania, his hometown.

However, the fact that this year’s carol singers do not include the Cretan Vrakofores, who will be at the neighboring Presidential Mansion, removes the chance for a political meaning-filled mantinada. And Mr. Mitsotakis, despite the expected pressure from journalists present at the informal talks, will hardly want to say anything about the issue of the coming days, namely his choice for the Presidency of the Republic.

Mr. Mitsotakis has refrained from delving into the subject up to now, out of respect for Katerina Sakellaropoulou, who continues to carry out her duties. Political tradition, however, dictates that the prime minister decides such matters at this time of year in the mountains, in this case, the White Mountains, for critical issues. He did the same in 2019, then in the Zagorochoria, with the case of the current President, who replaced Prokopis Pavlopoulos.

People who are well-acquainted with how Mr. Mitsotakis thinks estimate that he has already formed a clear picture of who will be proposed for the highest state office, even if he is, in a sense, feeding into the political myth. In any case, it seems that we are heading towards a figure with cross-party characteristics, meaning that it will not be someone “closely” tied to the New Democracy organization, even though ministers and MPs of the ruling party believe the time has come to break with the political tradition of recent decades, with the ruling party proposing a figure from the other “camp.”

There are, after all, figures who may not come directly from New Democracy but still embody the message of unity. In any case, what seems clear is that the political pressure from blue MPs on the prime minister for a “right-wing” President has been defused, especially given the clear improvement in relations between the Maximos Mansion and the Parliamentary Group.

Recently, however, the discussion has been revived about a second term for Katerina Sakellaropoulou, even though this is not particularly popular with many New Democracy MPs. The initiative was taken by Dora Bakoyannis and Evangelos Meimarakis from the ruling party, and there are also supporters of the idea within Maximos Mansion who advocate for the President’s second term, reasoning that it is difficult to justify why she should not remain in the Presidential Mansion when everyone agrees she has carried out her duties with dignity.