Kyriakos Mitsotakis unveils Thessaloniki metro’s Venizelos Station – A key government milestone

"The code will be metro, metro, metro, metro", says an associate of the prime minister who wants to show finished projects and not models

One of the most important moments of the government’s second four-year term, and of its term in general, is approaching tomorrow with the inauguration of the Thessaloniki metro, a project that began from the now infamous “Kouvela’s hole”, was driven to drag on for over three decades, and is now being completed.

Given that the project was largely put on the rails under the ND government and problems that had arisen with the antiquities at Venizelos station were resolved, Kyriakos Mitsotakisis politically invested in the delivery of the project, The message is clear: the government is delivering projects and not celebrating for models.The message is clear: the government is not celebrating for the sake of the project, it is not celebrating for the sake of the project.

This is the reason why the Prime Minister will be in Thessaloniki from this afternoon. After a conversation at 11:00 with the director of Monocle magazine, Andrew Tuck, as part of the Greece Talks conference, co-organized by Travel.gr and Proto Thema at the Megalini Britannia Hotel, Mr. Mitsotakis will “ascend” to the capital, as for 18:00 is scheduled for his tour of the station “Venizelos” by the Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni, to reflect how the antiquities are presented, which for years have been the “apple of discord” and the subject of legal actions.

Together with a group of ministers and official guests, Mitsotakis will get a first glimpse before the opening scheduled for Saturday at noon at the Pylea depot. And once Mr Mitsotakis…presses the button to start the first train, the metro will open to the city’s passengers.

“The code will be metro, metro, metro, metro,” says an associate of the prime minister, wanting to show the importance the government will attach to the project both in terms of communication and substance. Mitsotakis is of the opinion that from now on a series of projects that change the daily lives of citizens will start to “show”.

“So, to those of our fellow citizens who are justifiably suspicious, I will ask them to trust us, just as the citizens of Thessaloniki have trusted us, to whom we will deliver the Thessaloniki Metro in full operation the day after tomorrow,” Mr.

Mitsotakis, speaking at the presentation of the redevelopment of the Faliriko Ormos which is being launched by the Attica Region, a project that will be delivered according to plan in 2028.

Null tolerance

However, given the inauguration of the metro, the government also wanted to send a message of zero tolerance to threats emanating from different centers each time. That being said, and following his communication with the Prime Minister, the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Nikos Tachias went to the prosecutor of Thessaloniki yesterday, denouncing telephone threats from the president of Aris FC Theodoros Karpidis, against the backdrop of a two-match ban on the team’s home ground. Mr. Karypidis reportedly told Mr. Tahiaos that there would be mobilization by fans at the opening of the metro that he would not be able to control.

After the preliminary investigation ordered by the prosecution, Aris FC issued a statement clarifying that Mr. Karpidis had indeed contacted Mr. Tahiaos, but pointed out that “the report made to Mr. Tahiaos, but also to the director of the Thessaloniki Police Directorate, Brigadier General Evangelos Mourginos, on behalf of Mr. Theodore Karpidis was intended to prevent situations and events of aberrations”.

It should be noted that in an interesting power game going on in the city, the party “Voice of Reason” of Afroditi Latinoopoulou yesterday spoke out against the 2 game penalty imposed on Aris. Obviously, targeting the Aris fan base which has urban characteristics and many of them support ND.