Bakoyannis dismisses Samaras criticism of government

Dora Bakoyannis, a former minister and prominent MP and member of governing New Democracy, has dismissed Monday's scathing comments by former conservative prime minister Antonis Samaras leveled against the government, as being reactionary and petulant.

"Mr Samaras was expressing his personal bitterness over the fact that the others won't 'play' with him; that's my takeaway from his speech," Bakoyannis, who is also the sister of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, told Skai TV on Tuesday morning, hours after Samaras and another former conservative prime minister, Kostas Karamanlis, appeared at a book launch in Athens where they treated the government to a drubbing.

"They gave two completely different speeches; Karamanlis gave us an analysis about Europe and the national issues, things on which we all agree," Boakoyannis said on Tuesday, reserving the brunt of her...