Exclusive/Editor of MacroPolis Nick Malkoutzis  

“I think the choice of new FM tells us that PM Mitsotakis wants to be more personally involved in shaping Greece’s foreign policy. The previous FM Dendias, was an experienced politician who felt confident enough to lead on diplomatic issues,” said Greek analyst Malkoutzis 

By Genc Mlloja 

“The victory and the margin of New Democracy’s win are the result of some things the government did well and some things the opposition did badly,” has said Nick Malkoutzis, the co-founder and editor of MacroPolis, an independent website in Greece founded in 2013 that provides data and analysis on the Greek economy and the country’s politics in an exclusive interview with Albanian Daily News, which focused on the landslide victory of Mr. Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the leader of Greece’s center-right New Democracy party, in last Sunday’s parliamentary elections.           
“It may be that Mitsotakis, who has been re-elected with a strong majority, will now have a strong position within his party, as well as with the Greek electorate. If so, he could feel emboldened to move ahead with his reform programme, making changes in the public administration, the health system, education and trying to reshape Greece’s economy,” said Malkoutzis who was the deputy editor of Kathimerini English Edition between 2004 and 2016 and worked for the BBC and the Associated Press and other foreign media. However, according to him, the presence of populist and far-right parties in Parliament could cause him to be more cautious than he might like.   
The Greek analyst said that on the opposition side, particularly in the case of left-wing SYRIZA, they were unable to find a convincing narrative to counter Mitsotakis’s vision. “SYRIZA remained stuck in crisis mode, using very bleak rhetoric and focusing almost exclusively on criticism of the government rather than putting together a coherent and credible package of ideas.” 
Malkoutzis thought that the choice of Giorgos Gerapetritis as foreign minister tells that Kyriakos Mitsotakis wants to be more personally involved in shaping Greece’s foreign policy. 
Regarding relations between Albania and Greece he was of the opinion that they are not at their best, but not at their worst either. Asked about the relations between Albanian and Greek people, he revealed his experience with Albanians who have migrated to Greece since the 1990s, saying they have contributed a great deal to Greece, which has not always treated them fairly or valued their input as much as it should. Below is full interview: 

Albanian Daily News:  In the first place thank you for this opportunity to share your opinions with the readers of Albanian Daily News after the landslide victory of Mr. Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the leader of Greece’s center-right New Democracy party. Which are some of the main reasons for such a resounding victory in Sunday’s elections? 
Editor of MacroPolis Nick Malkoutzis: The victory and the margin of New Democracy’s win are the result of some things the government did well and some things the opposition did badly.    
As you know, Greece went through a long and deep economic crisis between 2009 and 2018. This caused a lot of turmoil in Greek society and much turbulence in Greek politics. Coming out of this difficult period, Greeks were tired with negativity. They wanted to believe in a better future. 
Kyriakos Mitsotakis provided the positive story they were looking for in 2019, when he was first elected, and continued to supply a more optimistic vision for the future over the last few years, despite the challenges from the Covid pandemic, energy crisis and high inflation. 
His vision for Greece may not be comprehensive, but it is easy for voters to understand. He talks about reforming the public sector, lowering taxes, using more digital services and attracting investment. To some extent, he managed to do these things in his first four years in office. Although few Greeks felt the benefit of these changes in their pockets because the rising cost of living eroded any gains, they hope that if he has another four years, the gains from these policies will be felt more widely. 
On the opposition side, particularly in the case of left-wing SYRIZA, they were unable to find a convincing narrative to counter Mitsotakis’s vision. SYRIZA remained stuck in crisis mode, using very bleak rhetoric and focusing almost exclusively on criticism of the government rather than putting together a coherent and credible package of ideas. They did not understand that much of the electorate moved on during the last four years and wanted to hear hopeful things, rather than words that compounded their fears. 

- As rarely before there is an impressive post-political environment in Greece: a strong majority, a weakened opposition and a far right which has seen gains. What does this mean for Greek society, and what are the expectations of such a shift in all the aspects of life in the country, particularly regarding the unprecedented success for the far-right as never before?  
- It may be that Mitsotakis, who has been re-elected with a strong majority, will now have a strong position within his party, as well as with the Greek electorate. If so, he could feel emboldened to move ahead with his reform programme, making changes in the public administration, the health system, education and trying to reshape Greece’s economy. 
However, the presence of populist and far-right parties in Parliament could cause him to be more cautious than he might like. New Democracy is constantly concerned about losing votes to parties to its right. To some extent, this explains why Mitsotakis has adopted such a hard line on migration. If there is concern within New Democracy over the next four years that the far-right may be gaining support, conservative officials may put pressure on Mitsotakis to be much more cautions over several policies. 
More broadly, I fear that the entry of these fringe, populist parties will affect the quality of our political debate negatively. We have seen the gradual emergence of identity politics in Greece and I am concerned that this trend will worsen. Also, some of the language around the migration issue has been poisonous and this is the kind of thing that the far-right thrives on. 

- Everything happened quickly after a night of celebrations in Athens, Mr. Mitsotakis was sworn in as Greece's prime minister on Monday, his new cabinet is ready to start work all under the pledge of the government head to supporters last Sunday night that he "will quickly push ahead with the major reforms that the country so urgently needs.” Now all eyes are on him and his new government with the expectations to deliver. According to your opinion, which are the biggest hurdles the PM will face along the way, and how successful will he and his cabinet be in the tough fight against mismanagement, nepotism and corruption? 
- Despite his re-election and big win, you are right that there is pressure on Mitsotakis to succeed. Although the Greek economy has been recovering, for instance, it is still in a relatively fragile state. For example, exports are rising but the increase in imports is much bigger. There is much work to do on the economic front and this will involve structural reforms, which are much more challenging than just reducing taxes, which is where the greatest emphasis was placed in the government’s first term. 
Also, some of Greece’s public services are in a very poor state. The health system, as the Prime Minister admits, needs a lot of work. He said that this will be one of his priorities over the next four years. But after many years of underfunding and staff shortages, Mitsotakis will also face a tough time over this issue. 
Regarding corruption and mismanagement, the government’s record in the first term was not the greatest. The way it handed out public contracts, particularly during Covid, is a subject of much debate. Also, there were familiar failings in the public administration, whether this was in combating wildfires or in the tragic errors and shortcomings that led to the deadly train crash in Tempe earlier this year, killing almost 60 people. 
There were also many complaints about rule of law issues. For instance, the wiretapping scandal and the lack of a proper investigation into whether government officials had any culpability. 
Another ongoing matter is press freedom. Greece has performed poorly in the Reporters Without Borders rankings in recent years. There have also been complaints domestically about the government’s relationship with the mainstream media, including over funding issues. While the level of press freedom in Greece could be a subject for long debate, there is no question that the balance in the mainstream media is heavily in favour of New Democracy at the expense of other parties and of citizens’ awareness. 
So, there are a lot of issues that the government has to do better on. Whether it will, or it wants to, remains to be seen. 

- Let me touch, please, upon the future foreign policy of Greece as Mr. George Gerapetrid has been appointed the new foreign minister but Kostas Fragogiannis remained in his position as the deputy foreign minister. Although it is too soon to say, but as far as it could be assessed, do you think that there might be any changes to the platform of the foreign policy of Greece given an international turbulent and unstable situation, which keeps aggravating daily? 
- I think the choice of Giorgos Gerapetritis as foreign minister tells us that Kyriakos Mitsotakis wants to be more personally involved in shaping Greece’s foreign policy. The previous foreign minister, Nikos Dendias, was an experienced politician who felt confident enough to lead on diplomatic issues. Gerapetritis, a constitutional law professor, is not particularly experienced in politics, nor in international affairs. However, he is one of the closest aides to Mitsotakis and I think his relationship with the Prime Minister will be crucial in shaping Greece’s decisions and actions in the global arena. 
It is also important to note that Gerapetritis will be joined by Deputy Minister Alexandra Papadopoulou, who is the former Greek ambassador to Washington. She also served as a diplomatic advisor to Mitsotakis previously and is clearly someone the Prime Minister trusts on foreign policy matters. Papadopoulou is a veteran diplomat with extensive experience, especially in the region of the Western Balkans as she served in many posts, including as head of the European Union Rule of Law Mission (EULEX) in Kosovo. Her experience in the region will be vital in guiding the re-elected government’s policy. 

- As a follow up, which are the expectations for the stance of Greece towards the Western Balkans, particularly regarding the perspective of the regional countries to join the EU when the accession process is almost deadlocked? Secondly, what could you say about the very tense situation between Kosovo and Serbia? 
- The Western Balkans and their European perspective is one of the biggest challenges for Greek diplomacy. The new geopolitical context in the wake of the Ukraine war has put enlargement back at the heart of discussions within the EU. Greece along with its EU partners need to consider the enlargement process and the Union’s absorption capacity since discussions now include Ukraine and Moldova. 
A few days ago the interim Foreign Minister, Vassilis Kaskarelis signed along with other foreign ministers from Italy, Croatia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Czech Republic under the initiative of Austria, a declaration that describes these countries as the “Friends of the Western Balkans”. According to the document, the signatories are determined to take resolute action. We will have to see how this situation develops. 
Of course, there are pending issues in Greece’s relations with its neighbouring countries, Albania and North Macedonia that have to be addressed as well. 

- Greece’s prime minister said on May 12, 2023 in an interview with AP that he will extend “a hand of friendship” to the winner of upcoming elections in the country's neighbor and longtime regional rival Turkey. “But I’m not naive… I know that foreign policies of countries don’t change from one day to the next,” said Mr. Mitsotakis in that interview. Now that Mr. Mitsotakis and Mr. Erdogan are reelected in their own countries, which are, in your opinion, the perspectives of the relations between Athens and Ankara? 
- The two leaders are due to meet at the sidelines of the upcoming NATO summit in July so that will give us a good first idea of how things might go over the coming months. Until the tragic earthquakes in Turkey earlier this year, it appeared that the relationship between the two men had broken down completely. Erdogan did not appreciate Mitsotakis advising the US not to sell F-35 jets to Turkey when he spoke in Congress in Washington last year. 
However, since the earthquakes there has been a rapprochement between the two countries so at least Mitsotakis and Erdogan can draw a line under the last few years and start again when they meet. There is a sense in Athens that now the elections in the two countries are out of the way the US and the EU will be pushing Greece and Turkey towards settling their differences. 
While I think that progress can be made in the current climate, I am sceptical about whether President Erdogan is prepared to reach a comprehensive agreement with Mitsotakis. As far as I know, Syria is the Turkish leader’s top foreign policy priority for his new term and, beyond that, I am not sure that it suits him to resolve all points of conflict with Greece. Also, with party’s to his right entering Parliament, Mitsotakis may be less willing to compromise on national issues. 

- Mr. Malkoutzis in conclusion of this exclusive interview I cannot fail to learn, please, if you have ever visited Albania, but in any case what could you say on the current relations between Tirana and Athens, and particularly how do see the relationship between the people of the two countries? 
- Sadly, I have not visited Tirana but look forward to doing so in the future. Regarding relations between the two countries, I would say they are not at their best, but not at their worst either. 
At the moment, there is much concern in Greece about the rights of the Greek minority in Albania due to the arrest of the elected mayor of Himare, Fredi Beleri. The Greek Foreign Ministry denounces the refusal of Albanian authorities to release him. Athens continues to underline that as a candidate for EU membership, “Albania should respect the rule of law and the presumption of innocence”. For Greece to continue supporting Albania’s EU perspectives there are certain prerequisites, like the respect for the property and rights of the Greek minority. In fact, it seems PM Mitsotakis will bring the issue of Beleris to the European Council this week. 
In the current climate, it will not be easy for the two sides to restart talks on the issue of the delimitation of Exclusive Economic Zone, which is pending due to lack of the pending compromise that could lead both sides to The Hague, as was agreed in October 2020. 
Regarding the relationship between Greeks and Albanians, what I can say is that I have met many Albanians who have migrated to Greece since the 1990s. They are people who I encounter every day and I find it very encouraging that, having come here for a better life, they have managed to find work or set up their own businesses and start families, becoming full and important members of their communities. They have contributed a great deal to Greece, which has not always treated them fairly or valued their input as much as it should.  
If I can give a small example from my neighbourhood in Athens: A few years ago, our local bakery was due to close but was bought at the last minute by an Albanian couple who had been in Greece for many years. This bakery has now become a focal point for our local community and this is down to the hard work, dedication and welcoming nature of the couple who run it. There is not a day that I go by without people gathering at the bakery or around the one table outside to share their concerns and joys over coffee or pastry. It’s a heartwarming sight. 
I would also point out that the children of Albanians who came to Greece in the previous decade and who have grown up here and come through the Greek education system, as second-generation Greeks, are also a vital link between our two countries. My son has gone to school and played football with these kids and has learnt from them more about Albania and Albanian culture than he would in any school or from any TV programme. 
This is a living, breathing and growing connection between our cultures and it provides me with hope that, as this generation grows, the understanding and appreciation between our two peoples will increase.