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A8 WORLD NEWS
Friday 5 July 2019
Greek election front-runner keeps campaign unusually low-key

By DEREK GATOPOULOS of retrenchment still stands
THANASSIS STAVRAKIS at a colossal 180 percent
Associated Press or so of the country’s an-
LAVRIO, Greece (AP) — nual GDP. Born into one of
On an exhaustive tour of Greece’s best known po-
Greece’s blue collar towns litical families, Mitsotakis is
and city suburbs, Kyriakos the son of confrontational
Mitsotakis has a spring in his conservative prime minis-
step. It’s no wonder - he’s ter Constantine Mitsotakis,
the overwhelming favorite who led the country in the
to become the country’s early 1990s. His sister Dora
next prime minister as the Bakogiannis later served
unlikely heir of a powerful as foreign minister, and his
political family. nephew Kostas Bakogi-
Arriving at Lavrio, an old annis was recently elected
factory town near Athens, Mayor of Athens.
residents form a cluster of “I’m very proud of my fam-
welcome next to a sea- ily legacy but I don’t think
front cafe. Mitsotakis steps you’ll find many people
out of his car and switches who say they’re voting for
into casual campaigning me because I’m the son
mode, crouching to chat of an ex-prime minister,”
to children, greeting young Greek opposition New Democracy party leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis waves to supporters at the he said. Mitsotakis had not
men with an arm-wrestle end of his speech during his main election campaign rally in Athens,on Thursday, July 4, 2019. been expected to lead
handshake, hugging pen- Associated Press the party, but was elected
sioners, and using his height heads to the election with United States at Harvard manded severe cutbacks president of New Democ-
to snap cellphone photos. a big lead in opinion polls University and Stanford. in return for their financial racy in 2016, following four
He chooses a microphone over left-wing Prime Minis- “I’m sick and tired of us be- help to Athens. straight election defeats
over a podium and in less ter Alexis Tsipras, who has ing treated as the poster “As many mistakes as we at national, local, and
than 10 minutes hits the led the country for the past boy for the crisis.” made, there were also lots European elections. He
highlights of why he thinks four years as Greece strug- He’s not alone in that wish. of mistakes made by our struggled to win over many
voters should back his con- gled to bring an end to its Greece has just struggled creditors,” said Mitsotakis. powerful figures in his party
servative New Democracy crippling financial crisis and through one of its biggest “We want to leave this pe- who viewed him as awk-
party: Greece, he argues, financial dependency on crisis since World War II. riod behind us.” ward in public and lacking
needs to embrace a pro- others, as well as cope with Forced to seek an inter- Mitsotakis is a pro-European swagger.
business culture after a de- a massive refugee crisis — national bailout in 2010, conservative and should The criticism faded as he
cade of economic turbu- more than a million people Greece’s economy shrank he win on Sunday, he will took the party’s opinion poll
lence, fix its law-and-order arrived on Greece’s east- by a quarter and unem- be confronted with an ar- lead to double digits and
problems, and continue ern islands in 2015-16 in ployment had spiked to ray of challenges, includ- led landslide wins in region-
making its once heavily dinghies and unsafe boats over 25 percent — double ing renewed tension with al and European elections
over-staffed state bureau- before trying to make their that among the young. neighbor Turkey and the in May. Confidence came
cracy more efficient. way to the more prosper- Protests and riots became ongoing draconian budget from a punishing timetable
A crowd of around 50 peo- ous countries of central Eu- a feature of Greek life. targets set by bailout lend- of campaign appearanc-
ple listen politely, eager rope. Many were blamed for the ers. Though Greece may es, picking small venues
to get another chance to “I want to make Greece a hardship from political par- no longer require direct often in low-income areas
meet the man strongly fa- normal European country,” ties — including Mitsotakis’ financial assistance, it still in a bid to take on govern-
vored to win in Sunday’s Mitsotakis told the AP, his predecessors at New De- needs to run a high budget ment strongholds as well as
general election. ease with English reflecting mocracy — to Greece’s surplus in order to pay off its a widely-held perception
The 51-year-old Mitsotakis a decade of studying in the bailout creditors who de- debt, which despite years of family privilege.q

Kosovo temporarily bans Serb officials from entering country

Associated Press trying to create a “humani- Aleksandar Vulin said the
PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — tarian crisis” in the country’s latest entry ban was an at-
Kosovo temporarily banned Serb-populated north with tempt to “cut all ties” be-
Serbian officials from enter- a 100% import tax slapped tween Kosovo Serbs and
ing the country, triggering on Serbian goods last year. “their” Serbian leadership,
an angry reaction from Bel- Kosovo Serb shop owners and “this simply won’t be
grade on Thursday. closed their stores in north- allowed to happen.”
Kosovo’s Foreign Ministry ern Kosovo for two days this Using the derogatory term
said it took the action be- week to protest the taxes. in Serbia for ethnic Alba-
cause of “Serbia’s threats Kosovo Foreign Ministry nians, Vulin said the Koso-
against Kosovo and con- spokesman Jetlir Zyberaj vo government’s ban was
tinuous propaganda” and said the closures took place “not politics, but retalia-
that all entry requests from “because of Belgrade’s tion.”
Serbian officials “will be re- political objectives.” Serb officials need entry
jected as long as this be- Serbia does not recognize permits from Pristina to visit
havior continues.” In this photo taken Friday, Sept. 7, 2018, a car passes by a the 2008 independence Kosovo, but have some-
The move comes after billboard that reads: ‘”Welcome, President” and shows Serbian declaration of Kosovo, a times managed to enter
Serbian officials claimed President Aleksandar Vucic, near village of Lesak in northern former Serbian province. using alternative routes
Kosovo.
Kosovo’s government was Associated Press Serbian Defense Minister through forests.q