“Next time I’ll come to Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis will be Prime Minister.” The bold support came by Manfred Weber, the center-right European People’s Party candidate to replace Jean-Claude Juncker as the President of the European Commission.
The Bavarian arch-conservative politician from the Christian Social Union choose the Greek capital Athens to launch his pre-election campaign ahead of the European elections in May.
He came to Greece following an invitation by conservative New Democracy and ‘occupied’ the emblematic Zappeion Megaron for this purpose.
''I begin my campaign in Athens, because #democracy has started here. There cannot be democracy without Greece and there cannot be #Europe without #Greece. I start this campaign in the venue where Greece signed to join the EU'' @ManfredWeber in #Athens. #ThePowerOfWE pic.twitter.com/MJKU6rN29r
— EPP (@EPP) April 23, 2019
Weber’s appearance in Athens and in Zappeio that is normally used by Greek politicians faced criticism first of all by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras who described him as ‘racist’, ‘authoritarian’ and ‘Anti-Greek’, as he was pushing for Grexit during the crisis years.
Ψήφος στη ΝΔ του Μητσοτάκη σημαίνει ψήφος στον ανθέλληνα Βέμπερ. Σημαίνει ψήφος στη μετάλλαξη της δημοκρατικής Ευρώπης, σε μια Ευρώπη αυταρχική και ρατσιστική, που θα κλείνει την πόρτα στον κατατρεγμένο αλλά και σε μια Ευρώπη βαθιά νεοφιλελεύθερη.
— Alexis Tsipras (@atsipras) April 20, 2019
“Vote for ND of Mitsotakis means vote to Anti-Greek Weber. It means vote to mutation of democratic Europe to a racist and authoritarian Europe that will close the door to the needy, to a deep neo-liberal Europe,” Tsipras tweeted before Weber even arrived in Greece.
The antipathy between Tsipras and Weber is mutual and has deep roots with the Bavarian King Weber to always claim the Tsipras is a “communist Prime Minister.” Weber has also described Tsipras’ former coalition partner Panos Kammenos as “extremist.”
In a long statement ruling party SYRIZA listed all anti-Greek statements by Weber. He “did not hesitate to blame Greece and Greek people at critical points in time, issuing racist statements and offensive descriptions. Weber is “the politician who spoke obnoxiously of Greeks as the ‘lazy people’ of southern Europe and fervently supported Greece’s exit from the euro currency and the Schengen Treaty. He also “fought against the reduction of Greece’s national debt” and “wanted to see people’s wages slashed, and EU funds for cohesion and the Common Agricultural Policy slashed.”
Earlier, Weber and Mitsotakis had visited the archaeological site of Nemea in North Peloponnese.
The picture of Weber, Mitsotakis in front of ancient column triggered also reactions on social media with some commenting that “Nazis always loved to pose in front of Ancient Greek monuments.”
Just when I thought, EU Commission presidents were impartial
#ThePowerOfWE means that it is the people who decide. #ThePowerOfWE means unity & strength. #ThePowerOfWE means that we will open a new chapter for Europe with optimism, not of fear, but of hope.Thank you @kmitsotakis for this fantastic event in #Athens today !🇬🇷🇪🇺 @neademokratia pic.twitter.com/R1l6s7fX1o
— Manfred Weber (@ManfredWeber) April 23, 2019
Is this the EU Commission president we want? BTW Weber reminds me of European Parliament President Martin Schulz who came to Greece just days after SYRIZA came to power in 2015 and told Tsipras with whom he should co-govern the country.
PS I’m afraid some Germans cannot get rid of their arrogance and supremacists fantasies….
