The Greek government mounted a coordinated attack on former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Sunday, with senior aides to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis accusing him of arrogance and financial opacity as political tension builds ahead of the Thessaloniki International Fair.
Government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis, Development Minister Adonis Georgiadis and the prime minister's director of digital communication, Nikos Romanos, all made pointed public interventions targeting Tsipras. Government officials said they see nothing new in Tsipras's public messaging, only a change of packaging, and stressed that the credibility of any new announcement depends on the political record of the person making it.
The criticism centred on two issues: Tsipras's decision to present his economic program in Thessaloniki before the prime minister does, breaking a decades-old tradition, and what officials described as a lack of transparency in the funding of Tsipras's political venture.
Funding transparency dispute
Romanos said that whenever the government is asked who funds Tsipras's party, the response points instead to New Democracy's loans. He said that was exactly the difference, since anyone can visit New Democracy's website and see precisely what it spends, what it earns and what it owes, but no such information is available for Tsipras. He questioned how Tsipras could wave the flag of transparency for the country while having zero transparency himself.
On Tsipras's rush to present his economic program in Thessaloniki ahead of the prime minister, the government spokesperson called the move arrogant and reminded the public that Tsipras no longer holds the position of leader of the official opposition.
'No moral barrier'
Government officials said they do not underestimate Tsipras as a political opponent, but said they cannot remain indifferent to tactics they consider outside normal political culture and which they said Tsipras favours. They said that when someone who once governed the country ignores traditions upheld even by the toughest rivals during the biggest political battles of the past, it shows Tsipras has no moral barrier.
Georgiadis said Tsipras's move to speak before the prime minister simply showed once again that there was no point investing in any rebranding of Tsipras. He said Tsipras was always a troublemaker and remains one.
The Thessaloniki International Fair is an annual trade exhibition that has traditionally served as the stage for the sitting prime minister's major economic policy address each September, a set-piece moment closely watched across Greek politics.
What happens next
Tsipras has announced he will be in Thessaloniki on September 2 to present his economic program, three days before the prime minister. Mitsotakis is due to speak on Saturday, September 5, at the Vellideio, a scheduling choice the source article said no political leader has made in the past.
