The annual International Fair held every autumn in Thessaloniki is traditionally the occasion of a keynote speech by the Prime Minister, highlighting the achievements of the past year and outlining the government’s plans and ambitions for the next. Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s speech at the 87th Thessaloniki International Fair this year was unusual for a couple of reasons.
Firstly it came on the heels of two major natural disasters – the fires in the Evros region and the flooding in Thessaly, as a result of which it was postponed from the originally planned date of 9th September to the 16th. And secondly it followed the near-landslide victory achieved by the governing party in the national elections held in June. Nea Dimokratia received 41 per cent of the vote, which with the newly reinstated bonus votes for the winning party enabled them to comfortably form a majority government. (The election also marked the collapse of the vote for the official opposition party SYRIZA, which led to the resignation of its leader Alexis Tsipras and a poll of members to elect a new leader, the second round of which is being held this weekend, on Sunday 24th September.)
The former circumstance, as Mr Mitsotakis notes in his introduction, inevitably overshadowed the occasion, and the initial part of the speech was to devoted describing the government’s handling of the two disasters and their plans for improving the nation’s defences against any further such events.
In the main body of his speech the Prime Minister noted that the government is taking the strong mandate they received in June as a signal to proceed with the major changes they consider necessary for the modernisation and future success of the country. These, he said affect three key sectors: the economy, law and justice, and “a state which will serve a better daily life for all”.
Most notable was his stated determination to create conditions in which the lawlessness and self-seeking which still prevail in many areas of Greek society are replaced by a spirit of conformity to the law and commitment to the common good. Notable examples of lawlessness were the illegal occupation of public beaches by businesses – which the government started to tackle this summer with imposition of fines, business closures and even imprisonment – lengthy delays in the justice system which leave it open to corruption, and the ever-present problem of tax evasion.
This was not a course, he said, which would necessarily make the government popular, but “It’s not the function of the state to be agreeable. It’s good if it is agreeable, but first of all it must be functional.” And “I know very well that as we approach such problems they will show us their teeth. We know that there are very difficult problems which we have to face up to.” However, he was confident that “with belief in ourselves, we Greek men and women may stride towards the future, and win it.”
The “honoured country” at this year’s International Fair was Bulgaria, and the Prime Minister’s speech was preceded by an address from his Bulgarian counterpart Nikolai Denkov, to whom he refers. It was to be followed by a press conference on the following day at which he expected, as he says, to expand on some of the topics touched on in the speech.
The transcript of the one-hour speech is a lengthy document and for this reason we have published the English version as a separate page on its own, which you can click through to here: https://kolymbaricourier.com/the-prime-ministers-speech-at-thessaloniki-2023/