Panagiotis Psomiadis

Greece will recommend the Governor of Central Macedonia, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, for the position of Commissioner in the 2024-29 Commission, government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis said on Thursday during a press briefing.

Regional Governor of Central Macedonia Apostolos Tzitzikostas is proposed as Greece’s Commissioner to the European Commission. The official announcement was made a few minutes ago by government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis, who noted that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has already informed European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

After seven postponements, the trial began on Friday over the attack on the former mayor of Thessaloniki, Yiannis Boutaris, during the commemoration of the Genocide of the Pontians in May 2018 in White Tower Square.

Twelve people, including the former governor for Central Macedonia Panagiotis Psomiadis, have been ordered to stand trial at a Thessaloniki misdemeanors court for an assault against the northern port city's Mayor Yiannis Boutaris last May.

Thessaloniki Mayor Yiannis Boutaris struck a defiant tone in a Twitter post on Monday night regarding an attack he suffered over the weekend by far-right nationalists who threw bottles at the 75-year-old, pushed him to the ground and kicked him.

"As long as I am mayor, I will not allow Thessaloniki to go back to the time of darkness and scandal," Boutaris said.

Main opposition conservative New Democracy members will head to the polling booths on Sunday, November 22, to elect their party leader. 781,136 liberal supporters (around a third of the party’s voters) had shown up to vote in the first internal elections held by liberals in November 2009 in relation to the October elections held in that same year.