National liberalism

The rift inside ruling New Democracy continued to make headlines last week. 

Why are Greek parties to the right of New Democracy celebrating the election of Donald Trump in the US and the ousting of conservative hardliner Antonis Samaras from the governing center-right party?

Former Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis has ruled out running for the presidency of Greece, following a proposal by former PM Antonis Samaras. 

Speaking at a book presentation in Patra, Karamanlis stated, "While the offer honors me, I must clarify that the matter neither concerns nor interests me."

The new developments shaping the political landscape, with PASOK in the role of the main opposition, have not caught the Maximos Mansion off guard, as Kyriakos Mitsotakis has long recognized Nikos Androulakis’s party as the de facto main opposition.

At the end of the day, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis had no choice but to show former prime minister Antonis Samaras the door. The expulsion of a former head of government from a political party is unprecedented in Greece. Yet, the rift within New Democracy did not emerge out of thin air.

Former prime minister Antonis Samaras did not avoid the well-trodden path that I pointed out a year ago in Kathimerini: "The refrain of every one of his statements, every one of his speeches, every one of his interviews is 'And it turned out that I was right.'"

The government is working to stabilize its party base following the high-profile expulsion of former prime minister Antonis Samaras from ruling New Democracy.

Former conservative prime minister and lawmaker Antonis Samaras has responded to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' decision to expel him from New Democracy's parliamentary group, describing his removal as "pre-decided."

"All the things I mentioned in my interview, I have said many times before. Obviously, my expulsion was pre-decided," Samaras told Antenna TV late Monday.

New Democracy's ethics committee has unanimously approved Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' decision to expel former prime minister and lawmaker Antonis Samaras from the ruling party's parliamentary group.

According to reports, no objections were raised during the brief session on Tuesday. The decision is set to be formally submitted to the speaker of Parliament on Wednesday.

By unanimous decision of the Ethics Committee of the New Democracy party, former party president and former Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has been removed from the party’s Parliamentary Group.