The Greek Prime Minister Gives A Brutally Honest Assessment of Europe 

Interesting that a politician who is the 4th generation of a political dynasty doesn't "believe in elites."

The epitome of nepotism.

This family is the best example of politicians that preach of a "small state" and privatising everything while at the same time have made massive fortune funded by the state in various ways.

"immigration is a non issue" Your popularity went from 41% to 27% because of a non-issue then..

Greece belongs to Greeks, not Mitsotakis. If Greeks want closed borders, then the borders will remain closed, no matter the crisis. Africa and Middle East is a whole Continent with billions of people. Fix your countries

Migration is a big issue in Greece. Mitsotakis is lying.

Am I the only person who thought Alistair was introducing Kyriakos Grizzly? The actual prime minister of Greece

Very eloquent man to very soft soft questions, you guys were on a mission of making Kiraiko looking good, no hard questions asked!

"Islanders in Greece are now trilled with the immigration issue and immigration is a no problem now !" "The economy has recovered from the crisis and the country is doing great !" "There is no freedom of speech and freedom of the press issue !" and so on and so forth . He is clearly disconnected from the Greek reality and spoke as if he was the PM of Sweden . That's populism

Yes, you can have your cake and eat it.... what you can't do is eat your cake and have it.

This video could become an ideal exemplar of 'long format' and why it works and why new services like nebula are gaining traction.

I wouldn't worry about not meeting Mr Sunak. After all, in a few weeks' time he'll be an ex-Prime Minister.

Rory looking a bit Mick Jagger

Apologies this is a prolix and unedited note. It is long because (unedited and) I am aware that both the interviewers are good competent and decent political animals, indeed men of gravity and integrity. So my inarticulate notes are ment to substantiate -for those that care about the truth in general and Greek politics in particular - that the interview should, perhaps, being watched with a huge pinch of salt. This video is neither informative nor sheds any light into a highly corrupt individual and his appalling government that did obliterate proper and true reporting from virtually ALL the mass media. Greece is now below certain African counties regarding freedom of the press.(117th international position? ). The only journalist that tried to speak truth to power (Vaxevanis/Documento) they tried and still try to extinguish. Unfortunate neither Stewart nor Campbell were fully briefed. I am surprised about Stewart's 'I like him' response. Shallow ? An informed judgment, perhaps, should ` not come to that 'personal taste' sum up but, I humbly submit, a more rigorous going over of the PM's responses. These responses, most of which -for an informed political commentator - were elaborate and mostly untrue or at best half-truths. Some obvious questions were not asked: 1) the only time the PM worked -as a result of pure nepotism/cronyism: an appointment due to his father's influence -in the Bank of Greece, he made a commonly acknowledged mess. 2) What he ment by good relation with Turkey (Cyprus, Turkish-Libyan illegal agreement, there are more illegal immigrants entering Greece from Turkey than before, 2020 Oruc Reis for months was infringing Greece's rights in the Aegean, the infamous doctrine of Bleu-fatherland by Turkey that intends to divide the Aegean (something his own father supported by secret diplomacy) and so on and on and on. Yet neither of his two interlocutors (oxbridge educated) were able to question. Why? Because they liked the PM? What a basis for an interview? ..this interview is full of shameful fibs mistatments (lies). He -and some of his top ministers - are masters of undue enrichment (he has c.42 properties on a mere politician's wage!) -including a house (supposedly his wife) in Paris: Voltaire's House (www.greekcorruption.dk/en/greek-prime-ministers-wife-maria-eva-virginia-grabowski-mitsotakis-in-a-network-laundering-black-money/). The Mitsotakis family is part of the Greek Mafia involved in questionable activities. He does not believe in tax returns, truth by mass media, sanctity of life of his fellow citizens, supports paedofiles (Georgiades, LIgnades...), his party does not prosecute rapists and pims, he is -perhaps -being supported by ship owners who traffic 3 tons of heroine (Marinakis: he now turned against the MP), involved in untold scandals (Siemens) which somehow never result in a just conclusion given hard facts. Prof Ioannis Ioannides has spilled the beans of Mitsotakis being A valetudinarian at Athens College (see Documento)! As for his Harvard days and supposed prize: his dissertation has been shred to pieces. His foreign policy is a mess giving way to Turkey's demands and compromising decades of national policy, is a hypocrite, liar AND populist regarding North Macedonia in order to gain the right's nationalist votes. In the Euro election on 9 July 2024 only got 28% with a 60% abstention ( i.e. c. 11% of the electorate!!! ). Given that he has had no real opposition, used Goebbelsian tactics and worse ( wire tapping, possible blackmail etc etc) and ALL the mass media on his side (and sent vast sums -NB his party in debt :owes c.435 million euros, for years now), the PM is personally in debt and over many years now (Κηρυξ Χανιων -newspaper)! Finally -and there are many more misdemeanours to write a book - two former New Democracy prime ministers : Karamanlis and Samaras - only a few days ago repeated uniformly and unanimously a verdict (that most Greeks now agree with) : this PM is incompetent and danger to Greece. And one last thing: his father was an apostate: brought the popularly voted government of the centre down in 1964 which ultimately laid to the dictatorship. What more can one say: in the UK he would have never being given a fiver as a loan and told to run a piss up in a brewery. The years to come will show the unprecedented damage he has done. Apologies I did not have time to edit.

Excellent definition of populism in my opinion; very articulate

This guy is a clown..His family is in Politics for 200 years the epitomy of nepotism its laughable.

Reporter said " i am feeling very very sorry for the Macedonians having to change their names etc " .... and the Prime Minister ... NOTHING, did he correct him, NO ... Good job PM

Brilliant, simply brilliant!

I love what he said about being present meeting people as PM. When I was about 8 my father was TV camera man, we bumped into NZs PM Helen Clarke in an elevator at the studio. She told me my dad was the best camera man in the country. And she really seemed like she believed it. Always kept that moment with me

The issue of press freedom is not a matter of not having the right to say or write whatever you want. It is a matter of a depended relationship between mainstream media and political parties. There is minimum investigative journalism here and that is because media owners, directors, journalists may be depended by bank loans that may be in turn depended by politicans, or have other economic ties that put media in the position of not wanting to harm the government, or status-quo, or a specific politician. The biggest scandal of the last years, the illegal surveillance of journalists, public persons, the leader of opposition party PASOK, even ministers of their own government, in which as all facts show, a small team around the prime minister was involved, using the country's secret service and illegal software was basically buried by almost all mainstream media in the beginning. It came forth only by a few and only a few are still investigating what has happened. Same thing with immigration issues. When NYT had a front page with video and clear evidence of illegal immigrants' pushbacks, this was featured only in small handful of left wing media. And no mention at all in mainstream news channels or other political shows. Also there is no journalistic ethos like in other western countries as to what a journalist can do or say. Journalists may associate themselves freely with politicians or business interests and this won't cause them any problems. Whereas in other countries, journalists would be either resigned or sacked, that never happens in Greece. That is the press freedom issue in Greece.

If you can't eat the cake, there's no point having it

Very interesting & informative 👍. Thank you

Mitsotakis is eloquent using the English language, due to working in New York in his early years. He paints a good picture of himself. The truth is that he is a good leader mainly because he uses socialist practices in times of crisis (e.g. giving out plentiful vouchers during and after Covid) and doesn't hesitate to write off criminal politicians out of the party and the government (parliament members like: Nikas, Amanatidis, Avgenakis etc). On asylum practices, the european press has largely been unfair to him (Interview Quote "you did not go to Samos). However one thing he doesn't admit is that it was really Syriza 2nd term government (Tsakalotos) which returned Greece to fiscal balance and not him.... he takes too much credit for fiscal balancing when it was actually the populist leftists who really fixed it.

Clown podcast and clown guest

Very interesting. This is such a good interview format.

So proud to have him as our prime minister!!! There is no comparison and if Greece has a hope of being respected globally, only he can achieve that ❤👏👏

i've come to realise that Alistair Campbell was basically our Prime Minister from 1997 to 2007 wasn't he?

I watched this live-streamed and in the interim hours I have reflected on how professional and personable a man he presents and how he then looks in light of the questions he is asked. What a nice informed educated erudite man he appears. His reference to skills shortages holding back the Greek economy were insightful and how main stream politicians in western democracies perhaps should view/eulogise immigration. So I searched and found: "European Economy Institutional Papers" Not quite so rosy after-all. Maybe some questions directed at him about the extremely high youth unemployment figures and how Greece's financials as a % are amongst the lowest in the EU and are expected to remain there for decades even with his reforms, would have cast his administration in a more realistic light?

Best CVC capital fund's political puppet , ever

We will rejoin the Union once most of our freeloading boomers have kicked the bucket ... and what a party we will have to celebrate BOTH issues 🍾🍷🍹🍺

As an Englishman who’s learnt Spanish and French I’m always impressed about how eloquent people like this man are - learning another language is not simply about the practical nature of comprehension but a deeper and wider understanding of humanity. I think we as Brits could benefit from this - English being the lingua Franca is a double edged sword

Greece stands tied for last place (with Hungary) in freedom of press in a recent Reuters institute research in 47 countries and 2nd to last in citizens satisfaction on how democracy works (78% dissatisfaction) and just below Colombia in a recent Pew research center poll across 31 countries around the world. If you want to know a little bit about a PM ask the people not the PM, especially when the PM is the product of nepotism. The Hagiography is intended to introduce him to foreign audiences since he's looking to jump to a senior European political role. Europe's better off without him and most certainly Greece is better off without him too too. That is the honest truth.Any Greek telling you otherwise is probably employed in some party political office. Plenty of those needed to keep such people in power especially in corrupt governments.

Nice!

I'm not familiar with the details of the Greek PM, but his mode of speaking appeals to reason and inclusion, and offers accountability. The way populists speak are always aimed at avoiding accountability and appealing to emotion and division, and that mode of communication lacks coherent solution beyond grievance. Maybe I'm being hornswoggled, but I don't perceive this man as anywhere near in the same vein as the 'save your society with this one clever trick' type politicians that seem to be in vogue. There was some allusion to the idea that he might have populist tendencies, but I would be curious where that comes from.

Immigration is an issue in Greece. Maybe not to the extent of Germany or Belgium (especially Muslim immigrants) but the face of the metropolitan cities has radically changed. There are areas that are no longer accessible to Greeks - who used to be posh, wealthy areas now totally ghettoed. Try walking around the Omonoia square without feeling scared. The big cities are suffering from an extreme rise in burglaries and crime, the majority of which is done by immigrants. PM Mitsotakis is not a saint, but he is the best the country can have at the moment.

Gay marriage "was important for a minority of Greeks". Check the polls, Koulis

At least the agreement to reduce illegal immigration into Greece worked out in the end with Turkiye and Greece. There are now no trojan horses between our friendship and partnership now. Thank you. 🇬🇷 🇹🇷

He couldnt give an honest assessment of what he ate this week, let alone an honest assessment of Europe

30:45 There are NO Macedonians outside Greece! Period. Learn history or drop it altogerther. Macedonia, is a Greek name of a Greek territory for more than 2000 years. The Slavs of the state of Skopja were just barbarians at that time.

I honestly have the query: why should youngsters engage in politics if they see people like the PM Mitsotakis being a third generation PM? Peoples are either going to own the polity or disengage. They are not the servants or the excuse of hereditary elites. I have voted twice for Mitsotakis. I understand many of his political dilemmas. However, he does make room for local financial elites instead of the many. He does adopt the notion of the "tyranny of the majority" when it comes to laws like the right of homosexuals to adopt children (which has falsely been advertised as the right to marriage or equality to marriage). There is an issue with corruption, like in the electricity production market or media in Greece, no matter if he feels confident on that or not. When you are a voter there is a balance between voting what is best and what is less bad, if that makes any sense. His first time in power he was clearly the best in Greece. Now he is the less bad and that obviously due to the fact that the opposition is in a predicament. And illegal immigration is an issue. Greece was never a colonial power to have a moral obligation to accept Arabs and Africans. That is an issue of Britain and France. So not only elites like his family occupy all the positions of power in politics, not only financial elites like the ones that he promotes occupy all the key positions of the economy, devastated people who are obviously in need of help, but they are illegally here, occupy neighbourhoods and resources. No wonder the people's of Europe turn to populists. At least they pretend to be listening. Whilst established elites, like the Mitsotakis' family, simply don't even pretend to be listening. That comes from a(n ex) voter. I am really troubled for Europe's future.

I appreciate the final conclusion and discussion. The interviewee was all over the place. At least his English is decent.

Loved your interview I wish there were journalist with your pedigree in Greece.

While Mr Mitsotakis rethorically supports Western Balkans accessioning to EU, his actions are rather opposite. He is wholeheartedly conspiring with the Bulgarian PM against N Macedonia to impose another veto, and blocking Albania. Whatever the reasons are, it is rather hypocritical mr Mitsotakis!!!

I wonder how Greece feels about it's western neighbours becoming more like it's eastern

Really great, informative and enjoyable conversation! Why did I keep thinking of Sean Connery in his vocal tone and style?

Wow, this man and his view on politics I find genuinely appealing. Thank you so much for showing that things can be dealt with differently.

In Greece we say that our Prime Minister is not a normal person, both mentally and emotionally ...

if only alaistar had know all this in 2004 oh wait he did

the big difference, Rory and Alastair, between Greece and the UK is that the Greeks have embraced their European identity and are comfortable in their skin about identifying as European while remaining as Greek as they could be. The British remain, as usual, as insular and parochial as ever, which is a great surprise and letdown considering their imperial past. Ultimately, it is a question of MENTALITIES...

The PM's point on the grievances populists use is really interesting. Because it does seem like the more institutional politicians are failing to really deal with the problems of their populations

I went in thinking this would be another rant (I dont follow Greek politics closely). I expected corrupted and populist messages - and evasion of responsability. But it was quite the opposite. I used to be a right wing populist myself - but I woke up and smelled the coffee in 2014 with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This politician (and others) - and recent events - show me I made the right decision....and we do love to be right! Great interview. Thanks.

Good work, well done 😊 But, Please have Yanis Varoufakis on ????

Interesting title for the person who actually wants to have all the cake for himself, eat the cake and yet the cake to never finish!

As you British fellows say "what a burk" . Anyone who grew up in a golden swing must have a lot of empathy and intelligence to step into the shoes of even the last peasant And you need to do that to run a country like Greece . He's more suitable for govern Luxembourg

Rory. You liked the last leader of the SNP as well.

"Brutally honest". Haha. Nice one lads!

Just saying, Venizelos funded and supported the Triple E(National Union of Hellas), and supported the Pogrom at Campbell in 1931. in 1933 it was planned for him an Plastiras to coup the government and install a Mussolini type Dictatorship, but Venizelos said it wasn't worth it. Venizelos' history is pretty dark after 1923 where he blamed the loss of the Anatolian Campaign to the Jews since the Jews didn't like him and always voted against him, which was one of the reasons why he funded the Triple E. Like, if people actually sit down and learn about Venizelos, the guy was ready to march into Athens in ww1 and kill all the royal family but Britain told him to chill. Dude is a menace...

Unfortunately, there's no reason why the EU should rush to have the UK back. Unrealiable partner. EU cities benefitting from London being outside of the Single Market. Why would they want us back right now?

I am Greek and i will also write a comment in english here for no reason...

It is true that migration is a zero issue in Greece under Mitsotakis . I live in Greece

Interesting interview. Smart man!

If only the UK were still in the EU. Look at how well EU countries are doing. Oh wait...

And now he’s the one that’s working and getting paid for Greece to go back to otoman empire. In addition to his ancestors that had struggled for the opposite scope.

Great interview and good afterthoughts -- well done lads!

I love my Primeminister!!! His feet are sturdy on the ground and his gaze up in the sky

25:41 Having watched the BBC documentary ‘Dead Calm; Killing in the Med’, I think there needs to a reassessment of the comment ‘big fence and big door’. If putting vulnerable men, women and children forcibly into an raft with no motor and dumping them in the sea, with huge risk, on the Turkish side of the sea border is a consequence of Government policy then the policy is morally and legally indefensible.

Loved this.

Articulate, thoughtful, and interesting to listen to. I didn't know much about Kyriakos other than recognising his name and that he was Greece's PM before listening to this, but I've come away quite impressed.

the working week is 6/7 day now instead of 5/7... God we are going down...

You can absolutely have your cake and eat it. If you want to eat something, you have to have it beforehand. What you can't do is eat your cake and have it too.

Really enjoyed this discussion. Good choice of subject for the audience.

Well, you would need all others to agree to let you in. I don't think that will happen in my lifetime. Not even in the lifetime of all you around the table.

Brilliant thanks, want to see a strong and resilient relationship between 🇬🇷 🇬🇧 🇨🇾

Well Greece did,!

Bro its not their name though what are you on about ? What about the ones that identify as Macedonias in Greece ?

43minute mark Rory refers to "all the smartest economists" - in that cohort being smartest clearly does not equate to being smart

Are you serious?! This person comes from the same family that has ruled Greek politics since forever. I am 50 years old and i never spend half a day without his family in power. All of his relatives are ex prime ministers, high ranking ministers and mayors of Athens!!! Are you kidding me?!! Mitsotakis equals nepotism!!! The nerve!! The hypocrisy!!!

"People are not irrational"?? What? ---- I would have liked this session to be half the PM and half R&A analysis and historical context (explainer).

When I moved to Greece I promised not to get into the local politics. Lol. Here I am listening to this. It's interesting to hear Mitsotakis to understand a bit why Greeks whilst living in a beautiful country with lots of enviable traits and assets are generally quite negative in their assessment of their country's economic and political environment. It's also good to hear his opinion on Hungary's govt as my wife is Hungarian and I spent several years living there.

Since The Prime Minister is a big fan of AI, i was wondering if he'll use it to gather data on real ethnic composition of Greek Society The Greek government's official position is that the country's population is almost entirely Greek and there are no ethnic or national minorities However, Greece has become more ethnically diverse in recent decades, with immigrants and co-ethnics accounting for more than 15% of the population Some of the ethnic groups in Greece include: Turks: A very large minority group in Greece. Most are tobacco farmers on the Thrace plains and are about half Muslim and half Greek Orthodox Albanians: Make up about 6-9% of the population Other ethnic groups: Include Vlachs, Armenians, Jews, and Romani peoples

You’ll have to have a referendum first and do we really want to go through that again.

Fantastic interview guys. I am a Brit living in Greece and after the previous government he is a wonderful breath of fresh air. Always interesting and intelligent to listen to. Well done.

Great guy, just what Greece needs at the moment. On the negatives he had a part in the eavesdropping and his family , well..............

The part of this that annoys me most is the discussion about Greece blocking entrance for the western balkans to the EU. Enough of this myth that the EU stopped war in Europe. NATO stops war in Europe and ensuring that everyone is an ally from a military standpoint is more fundamental than the EU ever will be (as much as I appreciate the EU and support membership), but stop saying everything good in Europe is a result of the EU.

This political family has bankrupted Greece at least one time so far ... and the greek economics now show that we are steadily going for the 2nd round , all thanks to this family.

The greek prime Minister comes from one of the two families that has decimated greece. He also comes from a family of collaborators with the German national socialists. He is considered right wing but had always harbored and used neo fascists ( namely the golden dawn) as there strong arm of his party. He is anti labour and worker rights ; in fact he just introduced the 6day work week.

Well, the comment about 'people not being irrational' was quite irrational 😂

...great interview..so informative!

Mr. Beans

I am 31 and live in Greece. I know not a single person in my circle who votes for any party in Greece.

26:20 Why Rory would never have been a good PM. Desperate to be liked, and unable to challenge on allegations that have a mountain of evidence to support them

It was his party who was responsible for the 2009 debt crisis in the first place, and it were the 'populists' who had to deal with it. Of course he doesn't mention that! 🤣

I can understand that having so much power in your hands, can corrupt you, overwhelm you or give you a sense of 'godhood', but when Greece is in such a bad state( i am speaking for everyday life problems, for example insanely bad healthcare), then i cant believe in a million interviews. Sure Greece was never truly peaceful or blooming in the medieval and modern history, but knowing that things are terrible and stating otherwise, is a mistake. This man (Kyriakos) i cannot accept him as a powerholder.(there are so many things to write about the corruption and the lies but we all know politics, they never end)

I am 31 and live in Greece. I know not a single person in my circle who votes for any party in Greece. There are only a few 70 year olds up in the mountains and members of secret organizations.

Rory needs a hair cut!

As a Greek living in Britain (and fan of most of your podcasts on The Rest is Politics) I find the rehabilitation of Mitsotakis and Nea Dimokratia (his party) to be extremely concerning. You shouldn't take at face value a random comment on RU-vid, but you also shouldn't take everything Mitsotakis says as the truth. Just because he frames himself as an American-educated, centrist and non-populist, it does not mean that it is the complete truth. The start of his political career was defined by the Siemens Scandal, when many Greek politicians were found (allegedly) to be accepting bribes and gifts from the German company Siemens. He leads a government that has been investigated by the UN for Human Rights violations regarding the treatment of refugees in the Aegean Sea. One of his first acts as Prime Minister was to restrict the independence of ERT (our BBC) and EYP (our intelligence agency) and a few years later spying software linked to one of his close associates was found on the phone of Androulakis (the leader of our Lib-Dem equivalent). He has placed very right-wing figures, like Thanos Plevris, Makis Voridis and Adonis Georgiadis in high ranking ministries and important positions within his party. He can claim to be a centrist (and legalising gay marriage is some evidence to that) but as leader of the oppisition he had attacked legislation that would have made changing genders easier for trans people and attacked any attempts at seperating the Orthodox Church from the State. The economy is being transformed into a gig-economy for Greeks based around services and tourism, while incetivising expats and wealthy foreigners to come to Greece (and pay very little in tax). He has furthered the privatisation of the Public Electrcity Corporation, which led to Greece having some of the highest energy prices in Europe for some time. His government have repeatedly refused to cooperate with or slowed down the investigation into the Tembi railway disaster, where around 60 people died in a crash on the busiest railway line in Greece (connecting Athens and Thessaloniki), allegedly the railworker unions had warned the government on several occasions about the unsafe conditions but they were ignored. There were several accusation of mishandling the pandemic by the government which led to some very high excess deaths especially in the rural regions of Greece (he also repeatedly broke the quarantine rules that his government had implemented).

New Democracy under Mitsotakis Jr has let loose predators and profiteers. Greece has the most expensive energy, high economic RENTS in oil refinement and Gas. The elite around ND, relatives of MPs and their friends have exploited their privileged position to encourage Oligopolies & Cartels to extract high economic rents & abnormal profits. Given the economic depression since 2009, these elites have had no remorse or shame implicated in CONFLICT OF INTEREST. Some minority of shareholders is making huge profits at the expense of society... SOCIOPATHS

Fix the government first….

his whole family keeps the cake

Sir you are not centre right, you are centre left lol