Mitsotakis government

With his call for the next European and general elections to be overseen by international observers, the leader of the main opposition party is "consciously undermining the state, fifty years after the restoration of democracy," the government spokesman has said.

Pavlos Marinakis was reacting to an article by SYRIZA leader Stefanos Kasselakis in the Efimerida ton Syntakton daily.

Greece's main opposition party on Tuesday condemned recent comments by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan concerning Cyprus and called for an official response from Athens.

Two conservative officials resigned and one was ousted on Friday amid a scandal involving the leak of an unspecified number of email addresses of Greek voters residing abroad.

New Democracy MEP Anna-Michelle Asimakopoulou announced on Friday that she would not be contesting in the upcoming European Parliament elections in June, following allegations of violating data protection regulations by sending mass campaign emails to Greek voters living overseas.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and his cabinet have been under pressure these past days, as farmers and students across the country have taken to the streets in protest. This comes as Mitsotakis also prepares to pass a key marriage equality bill this month, and as the latest polls show a slight drop in support for New Democracy and the government.

On Monday Greece introduced a bill that would allow for voting by mail, a long-standing request of diaspora Greeks and a measure that has been applied in almost all modern democracies. Interior Minister Niki Kerameus said the reform will make it easier to exercise the right to vote and will deepen democracy.

Substantial developments are anticipated in foreign policy and defense issues in 2024. Not least among them are the contacts between Greece and Turkey, which will be dominated by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' meetings with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara (or Istanbul) in April and on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Washington in July. 

The government has withdrawn an application to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) requesting a review of the decision vindicating former president of the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) Andreas Georgiou that his right to a fair trial had been violated in Greece.

Despite his professed intransigence and publicly stated refusal to meet with then-Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan apparently allowed communication between his officials and their Greek counterparts in order to avoid a major crisis between the two countries, Nikos Dendias, foreign minister in the 2019-23 Mitsotakis government, told Kathimerini.

Greece will get delivery of the first F-35 stealth multirole aircraft by 2028, "if everything proceeds according to plan," former Defense Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos told TV station Skai Friday.