With a clear distinction between the two former prime ministers, Adonis Georgiades took a stand on the intra-party balance ahead of the conference of the New Democracy.
Different distances from the two former presidents of New Democracy were maintained by the Health minister, speaking to the radio station “Parapolitika 90.1”. Adonis Georgiades, asked to comment on the climate of unity in the party, expressed his absolute identification with the presence of Kosta Karamanlis, while he was particularly critical of the recent choices of Antonis Samaras.
Referring to Mr. Karamanlis, the minister used warm words, stressing the former prime minister’s emotional and historical connection with the party:
“Karamanlis is the New Democracy, he needs no special invitation, in his person there is only respect and love, he is the home of New Democracy“.
On the contrary, his statement on Antonis Samaras was clearly more pointed, underlining the gap that has been created with the current leadership of Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Specifically, he said:
“Mr Samaras is not a member of the New Democracy, all his interviews are very negative about Mr Mitsotakis and he chose to clash with him, I won’t make a suggestion, it’s sad, I wish we were all together.”
About the criticism of the executive state and extra-parliamentary ministers, he said: “There is no terribly brilliant idea about the executive state, it is a administrative structure with a clear hierarchy, which allows for faster decisions. No executive state has a cap on me, I practice the policy I want. It helps with coordination and getting an issue to the PM. It is an administrative cog, it has helped to enable us to have better coordination. They all have negatives, the prime minister evaluates everything, he judges us all.” “There is an element of exaggeration in this debate.”
Asked about Tzavella and the decision not to bugging, while he, as the person responsible for the NIS, had signed 11 phone calls for the NIS, including Mr Hatzidakis, Mr Mylonakis, Mr Thomas Varvitsiotis and others: ‘I was listening to Mr Tsipras and the surveillance of his minister, Mr Pitsiorla. He had said that the NIS had decided how he could intervene, even if he was his friend; it was a very nice answer. The NSA has always tapped phones; it belongs to the secret services. There has been a lot of talk about this issue.”
On the issue of simultaneous wiretapping of NIS and illegal software, he said that this was not related to state agencies and that the Supreme Court had ruled twice on the issue. “Mr. Tzavellas is a prosecutor of the SC, not appointed by the government, but voted by his colleagues by a very wide margin. After becoming the prosecutor of the SC, he was given the authority to hear the petition. He ruled that it was not related to government agencies to monitor persons with the illegal software Predator. It was entitled to make that determination.” Referring to the Athens Bar Association’s statement, which speaks of “institutional aberration”, he said that “it is unacceptable” and added that “they had the audacity to accuse me two weeks ago when I asked questions about Papandreou and the files with the MPs involved in the OPEKEPE. Then they were eating me up like piranhas, but they themselves were calling for the resignation of the Supreme Court prosecutor a week later.”
Asked about the Prime Minister’s first act being to take the NIA into his office and move to change the law to put someone who was not qualified in charge, he said: “In Turkey there are wailing and wailing about the strengthening of Greece. We have a Mitsotakis who managed, apparently with the services collected by the NIS, within 7 years to have Turkey cornered. Should we give this more credence or should we give it to Mr Kontoleon? In politics everything is decided by the result. Greece today is geopolitically and defensively in the best phase of its history since 1830. Mitsotakis did well with the NIS, I’m fed up with Androulakis.”
On the issues of health and the Thriasio on the occasion of relevant publications, the reported situation in the operating rooms and nurses, who complain of “serious shortages”, “burnout” and repeated work stoppages, he said that “there is an issue with nurses throughout the NHS. By tomorrow the issue will be resolved, we are making a big announcement about nurses. This is the really big problem in the NHS, the nursing staff shortage. On 12 May we will be making announcements on how we will make the NHS more attractive to tender. We do not need work stoppages to indicate that there is a problem.” For Lemnos there is an anaesthetist post in the notice, with the reference being made to a publication that referred to a shortage in this regard. “In Marc’s poll for First Theme, there is no health as a problem,” Georgiades pointed out.
Talking about accuracy, he said that “it was passed over in passing, in 2025 the middle class had the highest income since 2008 and even deflated, as reported by the National Statistical Office. This is while tax exemptions are in place as of 1/1/2026. The income protection measures are working.”
“There was no PASOK proposal for four-day work, Androulakis threw a flare,” Georgiades said. “Four-day work without a pay cut means a 20% increase in payroll costs for businesses; this proposal has not been implemented in any state in the world. There had been a pilot implementation in the Netherlands and BMW, which was abandoned after five years. Four-day working creates a very big problem of inequality, because it cannot be applied in, for example, industry, but it can be applied in office jobs.” “I suggest to Mr Tsipras that we work one day,” Georgiades said among other things in a humorous tone.
