Video response on party anniversary

Former Greek prime minister Antonis Samaras published a video on TikTok on 4 October 2026, coinciding with the 52nd anniversary of the founding of the ruling New Democracy party. The recording presents a scripted dialogue between Samaras and the director of his office, Nikos Tsioutsias, addressing political commentary across Greek media. During the exchange, Tsioutsias announces he is leaving the office to shut down a party, prompting Samaras to ask which organization he means. Tsioutsias cites reports in pro-government newspapers alleging that Samaras plans to launch a political movement solely to remove Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and cabinet ministers from power. Samaras rejects the assertion that his public interventions are motivated by a desire to unseat specific politicians.

“I do not care who loses their seat. The only thing I care about is that Greece does not lose.”

Rebuttal of party formation claims

The video responded directly to a front-page article published one week earlier by the newspaper Parapolitika under the headline describing a plan to damage Mitsotakis and shut down. The newspaper's Politikos Kafes column claimed that Samaras intended to campaign under the slogan of returning New Democracy to factory settings and removing outside guests who previously belonged to PASOK. The report suggested that Samaras would lead a conservative grouping to challenge the government before suspending operations following elections. In their video dialogue, Samaras and Tsioutsias dismissed the coverage, treating the claim that a new party would be opened and promptly closed as an invention of loyalist press outlets.

Clashes over inflation and governance

The published dialogue also targeted the government's response to the cost of living, rising fuel costs, and inflation across Greece. In the video, Tsioutsias sarcastically states that he will go count vehicles on the streets, mocking government assertions that vehicle traffic proves the absence of price pressure. The comments directly referenced remarks by New Democracy lawmakers and ministers, including Harry Theoharis, Spyros Koulkoudinas, and Konstantinos Tsiaras. The discussion noted Koulkoudinas's statements about petrol consumption and public transit, as well as Theoharis's public use of the word wretches to describe citizens. Samaras characterized the remarks from ruling party figures as provocative before delivering a concluding remark.

“The river took them. And you know what else? This time they will not even be able to pave over it.”

The phrase combined a pun on the dissolved political party To Potami, from which several current government cadres originate, with an allusion to the paving over of the Tempi train crash site. That controversy involves former deputy minister Christos Triantopoulos, who faces referral to a special court for breach of duty regarding site management after the collision.

Prior foreign policy disputes

The video followed earlier political criticism released by Samaras on 3 October 2026 regarding bilateral diplomacy and regional relations. In that earlier statement, the former prime minister condemned a cultural agreement between Greece and Bulgaria concerning the relics of Tsar Samuel. Samaras also expressed strong opposition to statements delivered by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen regarding North Macedonian language and national identity. He argued that the current administration in Athens has compromised national positions on historical and territorial identity matters, adding to persistent disagreements over the diplomatic direction of the governing party.