With clear speech and charged personal toneAntonis Samaras spoke to full interviewleaving it wide open possibility of a new political entity: “I am weighing the situation… when I make my decisions I will explain them clearly and clearly to the Greek people. Today don’t expect me to tell you a “yes” or a “no”. The debate began with public thanks for the outpouring of support for his family after the loss of his 34-year-old daughterlending a strong human background to a otherwise sharp political intervention.
The “if” of a new party
Without making any announcements, the former prime minister described political and value conditions for “a new beginning”: a patriotic sign, a low-cost productive economy, a national strategy in energy and Greek-Turkish affairs, a social state in education and health, and a clear break with “the mutation” that, as he says, the New Democracy has undergone. He emphasized that his motivation “is not vanity” but “a sense of national duty”. And gave the mark of his next movements, “I am weighing the situation – when I decide I will speak clearly to the Greek people”
Tempe – “Respect for the dead, not a soulless approach”
Samaras connected his personal loss with the collective trauma of Tempe: “The government’s approach towards parents was soulless and often without morals.” He supported Panos Routsis, characterizing the exhumation ban as “cancellation of paternity” and “institutional slippage” that hurts the public’s sense of justice.
Economy – Energy, VAT, production
“Everything starts with cost – energy is the root cause,” he said, denouncing distortions in the energy market and insisting on VAT reductions on basic goods. He proposed mutual fund with the participation of the state, priority to agri-food sector, protection of Greek industry and restarting mining for energy independence. He spoke of “oligopolies strangling the middle class”, private debt that “reaches 112 billion”. and “invisible poverty” with “the shelf artificially raising prices” (typical example with rice).
Memoirs – “I received a cross, not a throne”
He defended “Zappio” as an early diagnosis of mistakes in the first memorandum (“the multipliers themselves admitted”), recalled the transition from recession to growth of 2012-2014 and the premature reversal of 2015. For Merkel, he spoke of a “foul game” and a proposal to leave the euro that he “totally rejected”, while repeating: “Every day we were tearing up a page of the memorandum”.
OPEKEPE – “Were they waiting for the European Prosecutor?”
In agriculture, his speech was a catapult: “Is it possible to have six presidents in OPEKEPE in six years?” and “when the minister fires a president and the Prime Minister takes him as an advisor, how do you say you didn’t know?”. He denounced the degradation of the CAP, “sliding into alternative food substitutes” and requested quality guidance of production aimed at exports and added value.
Nationally – “No Appeasement at the Cost of Dominance”
Samaras spoke of “phobia” in the Kasos cable-ditch (EEZ), “beautification” of Turkey and “symbols that count”: handshakes with Tatars, photos with Haftar, “silence” when Ankara takes steps. He warned of “Finnishing” through collusion and demanded 3+1 plan(Greece–Cyprus–Israel+USA) with substance, not communication. “The Aegean and Cyprus are borders of cultures. Hellenism cannot stand new diplomatic trivialities”.
New Democracy – “From a party of principles to a party of owners”
The break with the Mitsotakis leadership emerged as valuable: “Mitsotakis does not digest the Right, the Center-Right, nor the history and base of the ND… he made it a hybrid of the Semitic PASOK with a blue color.” About his deletion: “He deleted me aron-aron; for “Ferrari”, “Frape” and “Hasapi” they thought about it for weeks”. He ruled out “bridges” without self-criticism: “I didn’t leave to come back; I was deleted.” He added: “It is the first time in the history of the faction that a former prime minister and president of the party has been deleted. He supposedly did it because he was offended because of Gerapetritis. In fact, he found an excuse to turn ND into his personal party.”
“Hybrid Semitic PASOK with blue color”
“Mr. Mitsotakis is not fighting for the homeland or for the faction, but to keep his own regime. It has turned the New Democracy into a hybrid of the Semitic PASOK with a blue color”, says Antonis Samaras characteristically, noting that “the problem is not personal, but political and moral”.
“Mitsotakis does not digest the Right, the Center-Right, nor the base of New Democracy. It has nothing to do with the history or the ideals of the faction”, he points out, underlining that the current ND “is only in name the same faction founded by Konstantinos Karamanlis”.
“Arrogance and institutional indecency”
The former prime minister accuses Kyriakos Mitsotakis of a style of power that “insults the institutions and tradition of the Republic”.
“I saw the Prime Minister himself leave the House in a leaders’ debate saying he didn’t have time to listen to everyone. While he told a political leader “stop whining”. He often talks about “patriots of the lentil and the sofa”. These are examples of arrogance and institutional indecency,” Samaras stressed, describing a Prime Minister “cut off from society and the base of the party.”
“I don’t have ginati – some others have nightmares”
Responding to questions about his “obsession” with Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Samaras recalled his own contribution to his political path:
“Who made him minister?” Samaras. Who made him a parliamentary representative? Samaras. Who supported him for President of ND? Samaras. I don’t have any gear. Others seem to be suffering from nightmares.”
Demographic – “112 in every home”
He called it number one national issue. He proposed ten year income tax exemption for new mothers with criteria, denounced demographic-immigrant confusion and spoke of brave support of education and health. “We are declining dangerously – from a required birth rate of 2.1 we are at 1.3.”
“Transmigration of Metamigration” – Call for participation
He accused the “system” of becoming a “closed management club without ideas” and called on citizens to return to the ballot box: “Participation is a condition of democracy. Vote or vote – but vote.”
Relations with the US – “Understanding at critical times”
He has not met with Donald Trump, but is “in contact with his staff” and finds convergence on energy/borders/woke agenda reversal. He criticized the “one-sided alignment” of Athens and asked for a realistic position in the big geopolitical games.
For Bakoyannis – Kammeno
He dismissed ironies about a “new Tsipras-style party”, recalled Dora Bakoyannis’ earlier choices and the Greek-Turkish/Skopje identifications. Regarding Kammenou’s aversion “if Samaras makes a party, I will return”: “Let’s go to another question”.
The interview functioned as manifesto of rupture with the “ND of Mitsotakis” and with a “positive sign” of a package of proposals: pure patriotic axis, social state of substance, productive reconstruction and hard national line. The “if” and “when” of the new party remains up to him – but the political mark he has set is already creating space and discussion for an organized, value repositioning to the right of the ruling pole.