Speaking on SKAI tv, Bakoyanni said that “procedures are escalating” within New Democracy, while she argued that her party needs to establish itself in the center right.
She was highly critical of the Antonis Samaras-led government, noting that “if we had the guts, the structural changes would have closed.”
Bakoyannis is the eldest of four children of veteran Greek politician Constantine Mitsotakis, who was prime minister of Greece from 1990 to 1993 and leader of the New Democracy party between 1984 to 1993. She was married to Pavlos Bakoyannis, a respected journalist and politician and had two children, Alexia and Kostas. In 1989, members of the "November 17" terrorist group assassinated her husband, then a Member of Parliament, as he entered his office building.
Bakoyannis lost to Samaras in the election for the party's leadership in 2010 when all of the supporters from Costas Karamanlis decided to ignore her candidacy. In fact, most Karamalikoi (or strong supporters of Karamanlis) are convinced that she helped to bring down his presidency because she was flirting with interests that were not in line with Karamanlis' foreign policy line. Since then she has repeatedly demanded his resignation (directly and indirectly).
The reasons are many, one of the most prominent of which began when her father’s government fell in 1993. Following the fall-out with Mitsotakis, Antonis Samaras left the New Democracy party and set up his own smaller party called Politiki Anoixi (or Political Spring) to show his dissatisfaction with the weak position of Mitsotakis on the “FYROM” issue."
Dora Bakoyannis was expelled from New Democracy on May 7, 2010, on the grounds of having defied New Democracy's line and voting "in favor" of a salient piece of legislation introducing the harsh austerity measures that were required for European Union-International Monetary Fund backed lending. She continued to hold her parliamentary seat, originally secured by New Democracy, as an independent. On November 21, 2010, she founded her own political party called the Democratic Alliance.
Later on she rejoined ND.
Earlier this year and during a party conference she called for an emergency congress to decide ND's future, and discuss all issues from the party's functioning and internal democracy, which she particularly emphasised, to organisation, strategy and individuals.
Bakoyianni has always been a reputed favorite of the Bush Administration and rival of Karamanlis, and she retained her post as Foreign Minister when Karamanlis was elected for a second term in 2007.
Declassified reports published on the well-known Wikileaks site only prove that American diplomacy in Greece was closely monitoring the development of local politicians, their attitude to official Washington and its policy during Karamanlis' rule. They also prove that the Americans clearly favored Bakoyiannis (and Dimitris Avramopoulos) and viewed her as the heir to the ND throne (something that we all know never happened because Karamanlis showed his favoritism towards Samaras).
One example of this is a telegram that was sent to Washington and noting that Bakoyianni is an old friend of the United States. In the telegram, "the most popular mayor of Athens since the age of Pericles" is described as "moderate in foreign policy and particularly active against terrorism because of her personal terms after the murder of her first husband, Pavlos Bakoyannis." Dora Bakoyannis is a "supporter of the approximation of Greece with Turkey and supporter of its European perspective."
Read Telegram by clicking HERE
To respond to the attacks that she was chosen by the Americans, in a conversation with the US Ambassador Charles Rhys she asks: "Did you see my picture on the front pages of today's press, which is placed against the American flag? Well, it does not annoy me." The telegrams connected with terrorism show the concern of Americans for the possibility of the organization "November 17th” continuing its activities, and the suspected presence of Islamic terrorists among illegal immigrants in Greece.
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