Financing scandal shakes Greece's prevailing new democracy party

Athens, May 1, 2025 – A political storm has broken out in Greece, since opposition parties have an investigation of alleged connections between Prime Minister Kyriako's Mitsotakis' New Democracy Party and Blue Skies, a communication company that was accused of being accused of political financing.

Blue Skies, founded by Thomas Varvitsiotis – Son and brother of the former New Democracy Ministers – and Yiannis Olympios – is an offshoot of the prominent V+O agency. The opposition claims that Blue Skies will use high-ranking new democracy officers as a form of the unnoted financing and that 15 of their employees with the trolling of Mitsotakis, including the organization of families of victims of the Tempi-Rail catastrophe, was wearing the worst train of Greece, the victim of victims in 2023.

Key figures involved

A newspaper report by Documento showed that more than half of the 57 listed employees of Blue Skies held leading roles in the New Democracy or near Mitsotaki, including:

• Thanasis Bakolas, General Secretary of the European People's Party (EPP).
• Domna Mikhailidou, Minister of Labor and Social Security.
• Konstantinos Kyranakis, Deputy Minister of Transport.
• Orsaki Roussetou, a current member of the Mitsotakis communication team.

According to many, many of them worked between 2016 when Mitsotakis took over the party leadership and in 2019 when New Democracy won the election. Some, such as Roussetou, remain on the company's salary statement. Nobody has publicly announced their PR roles.

Opposition requires measures

The Pasok Party of Center links called for clarity about “the connections between New Democracy, a propaganda machine and private companies that channel black political money”. Pasok asked the recent revelations on legal intervention. The Syriza MP Kostas Arvanitis asked the EU Justice Commissioner Michael McGrath and the European Parliament to restore confidence in the democratic process of Greece. The new left -wing MP Nasos Iliopoulos described the allegations as “institutional aberration”, with the potential abuse of public resources being cited in violation of the transparency laws.

The government and blue sky react

The government's spokeswoman, Pavlos Marinakis, rejected the allegations and described claims of a shadow surgery as “science fiction”. He defended the private work of the party member and said: “Party positions are not jobs. People work in the private sector next to their roles.” Marinakis emphasized the value of the experience of the private sector for civil servants.

Kyranakis admitted to working at Blue Skies from 2016 to 2019 and describing himself as a “normal employee” who paid taxes. Bakolas rejected a statement and no response to Roussetou was given. Blue sky cited Greek data protection laws and refused to discuss certain employees, but to reject indirect party finance. The company described the allegations as a distortion of the standard industrial practices and found that the hiring of politically knowledgeable employees in crisis management is common.

Propaganda allegations

A separate examination of “Inside Story” revealed a “propaganda machine” in which 15 Blue Skies employees were involved, especially with “Team Truth”, a news page with a large social media. The website of two Blue Skies employees has drawn a sensitive problem for Mitsotakis' government for the attacks on the families of the Tempi -Crash victims. Blue Skies distanced himself and explained that “team truth” was not a corporate project and condemned harmful anonymous accounts. Marinakis defended the participants of the “Team Truth” and denied the commitment, but praised her efforts against a “smear campaign”.

The scandal raises serious questions about political transparency and accountability, whereby the opposition parties urge the judicial examination to address potential violations of the democratic principles of Greece.

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