Alexandra Sdouko, press spokesperson for Greece's governing New Democracy party, said neo-Nazis have no place in the country, amid a growing debate over whether the recently released far-right politician Ilias Kasidiaris could stand as a candidate in the next general election.
Speaking on the television channels ACTION 24 and MEGA News, Sdouko said the question of whether Kasidiaris, a convicted former member of parliament for Golden Dawn, is eligible to run for office belongs to the justice system, and specifically to Greece's Supreme Court, known as the Areios Pagos.
She said she would not hide from the issue, that everyone knew who Kasidiaris was and what he stood for, and that everyone remembered what he and his party had done both in parliament and on the streets. She added that the answer on whether he could be a candidate would come from the courts and from the Areios Pagos specifically, and that it would be a purely legal matter.
Neo-Nazis have no place in Greece
Sdouko insisted that, regardless of what the Areios Pagos eventually rules, there remains a political and social obligation to confront the ideas represented by Kasidiaris and Golden Dawn. She said a legal ruling does not remove everyone's political duty to defeat those views within society, and concluded that neo-Nazis do not have, and cannot have, a place in Greece today.
Kasidiaris, once a sitting Golden Dawn MP, was released from prison after serving the sentence handed down to him for directing a criminal organisation, part of the wider case in which the party's leadership was convicted in 2020 of running Golden Dawn as a criminal group. His release does not automatically restore his political rights or guarantee him the ability to take part in the next election.
The legality of any list he might join, and whether specific candidates can be declared eligible, will be examined by the Areios Pagos once elections are formally called and candidacies are filed.
Warning of a difficult winter for energy
Sdouko also addressed international geopolitical uncertainty and its effect on natural gas and oil prices, saying developments along global energy and trade routes are directly affecting the Greek economy and the cost of living. She said discussion of the economy cannot be separated from international developments.
Referring to announcements made at the Thessaloniki International Fair, the annual trade exhibition at which the Greek prime minister traditionally unveils the government's economic policy for the coming year, she said the prime minister had presented measures the country can realistically deliver under current conditions. By contrast, she said opposition party leaders had been promising to hand out money that does not exist, distributing it without restraint. She said international reality sharply brings the opposition's promises back down to earth.
Gas near 80 euros, oil above 100 dollars
Sdouko avoided making firm predictions for the winter, citing instability along major energy transport corridors. She said geopolitical uncertainty continues, with energy and trade routes through both the Strait of Hormuz and the entrance to the Red Sea currently unsettled.
According to figures she cited, the price of natural gas stood at 32 euros per megawatt hour in September of the previous year and is now trading near 80 euros. She said oil remains above 100 dollars a barrel, adding that everyone understands what those numbers mean for the cost of living.
The European benchmark gas price was indeed trading just below 80 euros per megawatt hour at the time, marking a sharp rise, while international oil prices remained above 100 dollars a barrel.
Support package and fuel subsidy
Sdouko referred to measures the government took after the start of the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz. She said that when the crisis erupted last February, the government immediately announced a package worth 800 million euros.
That 800 million euro figure is Sdouko's own reference. Published analyses of the government's initial package of fuel measures had cited a sum of about 300 million euros for specific steps, including a subsidy on diesel fuel and financial support for drivers.
Sdouko said a subsidy of ten cents per litre on diesel remains in place. She said the government continues to subsidise the pump price of diesel by ten cents, in order to limit as far as possible a wave of price rises across the entire production and transport chain. The state subsidy on diesel remains in effect, aimed at limiting transport costs and price increases in the supply chain.
'The prime minister sounded the alarm first'
Sdouko recalled that during the previous energy crisis, the government spent around 10 billion euros to hold down electricity bills. She said that in the previous energy crisis, the government gave 10 billion euros to keep electricity tariffs at tolerable levels.
She also said Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was among the first European leaders to warn of the need for a joint European response to high energy prices, saying Mitsotakis was the one who sounded the alarm in Europe and to the president of the European Commission. She concluded that the prime minister always does what is necessary.
Sdouko said that amid international energy uncertainty, the government's main priority remains supporting the country's most vulnerable citizens.
