The previous coalition government of a leftist and a rightist party tried to control private mass media, Kyriakos Mitsotakis said at a panel discussion of the Munich Security Conference.
At the panel on "Stemming the Illiberal Tide: The Global Challenge of Eroding Democracy," Mitsotakis said that "11 years ago, Greece faced an enormous economic crisis, great austerity and social unrest. After 2015 we had a coalition government between a party of the left and a party of the right, mediocre, I should say, which tried to control private mass media and influence justice, but democratic institutions prevailed" over populism.
He said that parties leaning to populism can become dangerous when they win a second consecutive term, which was averted in 2019. "At the end of the day, everything relates to fulfilling our campaign promises, bringing results, that's why our government is still popular. We managed to turn the page as a country, and we are now stronger politically, institutionally and financially," the Mitsotakis underlined.
Greece's most successful reform was digitizing the country, he added, which simplified the relationship between state, citizens, and businesses, and prevented the human factor from intervening and becoming a source of corruption. This has boosted citizen confidence in the state "because we respect citizens' time and do not submit them to useless bureaucratic procedures - it's a completely different function of public administration," the Greek premier added.