The rise of Kyriakos Mitsotakis to the leadership of New Democracy in early 2016, along with his double electoral victories in 2019 and 2023-2024, continues to pose a political enigma. His supporters have crafted the portrait of an extremely capable politician, who is supposed to owe his success to the "establishment of a strategic state," the "fighting against populism," and the "opening towards the Center." These are three propagandistic myths.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis exploited a series of social and institutional crises (pandemic, wiretaps, Tempe), in order to cover up his own responsibilities and neutralize his political opponents, establishing the "government of Maximos," utilizing extreme populism, and assigning the most critical governmental positions to far-right officials. He rejected the post-junta tradition of his party and copied the pre-junta ERE. He returned to hard Atlantism, blatant anti-communism, serving large economic interests, and showing indifference to the impoverishment of the popular classes.

His only "modernization" was based on the complete adoption of the neoliberal model. It was not his own inspiration. Alarmed by the election of a left-wing government for the first time in history, the mechanisms of the deep state, already shaken by popular movements during the great crisis, sought the antidote, which was found in the person of an ambitious politician who did not hesitate to take on the difficult task.

Dimitris Psarras was born in Athens in 1953. He is a journalist. He was a member of the research team "Ios." He worked at Eleftherotypia (1990-2011) and at the Newspaper of Editors (2012-2024). He now writes for X without a newspaper (x-efimerida.gr).