Nearly all the governments of Western Europe — the United Kingdom, Spain, France, and Germany — are very unpopular with the public and the fate of each of their heads of government is, at best, uncertain.
The polar opposite is true in Greece, however, as Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and his New Democracy (conservative) Party rolled to a landslide win in national elections Sunday.
With near-final results in, New Democracy captured 158 out of 300 seats in the parliament— far ahead of the 47 won by Syrizia (Party of the Radical Left) and 32 by PASOK (Socialist).
“Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ resounding landslide re-election across every age demographic provides the political opening to propel Greece faster and deeper into the 4th industrial revolution as well as to confront enduring geopolitical challenges to the Western alliance,” John Sitilides, geopolitical strategist and diplomacy consultant to the U.S. State Department’s Foreign Service Institute, told Newsmax.
Sitilides noted that, at the upcoming NATO summit, the newly-re-elected prime minister will hold a sideline meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — whose country has long had an uneasy relationship.
Last May, in a much-praised speech to the US Congress, Mitsotakis made clear he wanted the world community to help get the Turks out of their 48-year dominance of northern Cyprus.
In calling on the U.S. to "take a vital interest in a vital part of the world" and to "remain engaged," the prime minister called the forced creation of the "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus" in 1983 "a violation of international law and the good neighbor policy."
Many eyes in Europe, the Middle East, and the US will be focused on what Mitsotakis has to say to Erdogan (who also won re-election earlier this year).
The two leaders are also expected to discuss maritime borders in the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean Seas as well as illegal migration from the Middle East and South Asia.
(Although New Democracy’s majority gives Mitsotakis a free hand in governance, it was widely noted that two new parties that took a hard-line stance against illegal immigration and multi-culturalism emerged as winners Sunday — the Spartans, with 4.7 percent of the vote and 13 seats, and the Niki Party with ten seats. Niki has been characterized as “ultra-orthodox” and pro-Russia).
Mitsotakis' support of market policies and tax cuts has inarguably helped Greece get behind its dark days of nearly a decade ago, when three international organizations stepped in to guarantee a bailout of the near-collapsed Greek economy.
Now wages and pensions have risen dramatically and investments in growth beyond real estate and tourism are in their embryonic stages.
Mitsotakis is expect to especially focus on the port and commercial center of Alexandroupolis in Northeastern Greece, which is becoming an economic mecca and is certain to grow under its anticipated privatization.
For now, Mitsotakis has a stronger hand in securing his agenda than almost any other leader in Western Europe.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.