In a Gregory Dimitriadis, in a riverside interview with Real News, he opens his cards about the past and future of his party and the country.
The former general secretary of the prime minister breaks his silence for the first time and gives answers on all the issues that have been and continue to be in the news, both about his own stance and the tactics of the opposition.
“I had not taken a public position because I did not feel until now that I had anything to say,” says Grigoris Dimitriadis and answers directly to the question on the issue of watching: “I took political responsibility to protect the government, the secret services, my party, but above all the country. Nothing more“.
Regarding the new round of political reactions sparked by the decision of the Supreme Court and the announcement of Mr. Androulakis for a commission of inquiry, Grigoris Dimitriadis says that as far as the legal aspect is concerned, even a first-year law student knows what it means to “have three Supreme Court rulings on the one hand and a judge of the unicameral court on the other” and notes that “Mr. Androulakis has chosen to politick in a certain way, he is permanently angry and generally seems to feed on a toxicity, which I honestly cannot understand from a certain point onwards. You don’t do politics with a complex.
And he believes that everything that is happening “is about specific centres leading from behind closed doors” and explains that there are two types of ecosystems: “one category is people who actually have a sensitivity to the rule of law and individual freedoms”, but there is a second category that “exploits this issue in a disproportionate way and has been keeping it open for years, trying to influence the news and create certain impressions”.
As far as he is concerned, he replies that during his term of office he has helped to spoil the interference that works against the interests of the country” and promises that he will continue to do so.
He comments on the attacks he and his family have been subjected to, but he has a “strong stomach, an essential element for anyone involved in politics, as his grandfather Constantine Mitsotakis used to tell him.
He is deeply concerned about the climate of intense toxicity that began during the “memorandum-anti-monument” era, “with the high priest of toxicity and character assassination being Alexis Tsipras” who is “now followed by Nikos Androulakis” and as he says he fails to understand “in case there is no self-reliance, how the political leaders of the opposition will co-exist with the current government, if a coalition government is required”.
Closing this interview, Grigoris Dimitriades clarifies that, despite rumours to the contrary, he does not intend to run in the next national elections, he will continue to yserve his party in a voluntary capacity and calls for an all-out campaign because “nobody is left over“.
Finally, asked if he has made any mistakes, he said: “The biggest is that I did not act as a politician, but solely by feeling the weight of my responsibility. I didn’t protect myself” and closes by borrowing Samuel Beckett’s quote: “Next time fail better.”
