Kostas Bakoyannis, who has been the mayor of Athens since 2019, said that Albanians in Greece have now been completely integrated and he goes on to call them “Athenians”. Bakoyannis gave this statement during his interview with journalist Bruna Çifligu on Euronews Albania.
“You’re talking about Athenians. Real Athenians. Much as I am Athenian, they are Athenians. Their children grew up with our children, they go to school with our kids, they enrolled in the military with our children and they work together. There are no more differences,” stated the 43-year-old politician.
He is considered as one of the young politicians, through whom Greece can see toward the future. However, now that he is in charge of a local government, he says that it is his duty to find real solutions to real problems.
“I think it is a new generation in Greece. Our government is visionary and open. Our Prime Minister is on the right side of history. He has made a series of strong calls in recent years, managed many crises and has done so successfully. Greece, after the long economic crisis, has returned with a new sense of optimism and self-confidence. So, yes. I think we can hope for a brighter future,” argued Bakoyannis.
The mayor of Athens also said that he sees a lot of similarities between himself and the mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj and said that he has been pleasantly surprised by his work in the Albanian capital city.
“I can say that I am proud that he is my friend and that I am surprised by the good work he has done, but I think what we have in common is enthusiasm, love for what we do. It is not just work, but people themselves,” he said.
Kostas Bakoyannis is the nephew of the current PM, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, son of former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Theodora Bakoyannis and the liberal politician Pavlos Bakoyannis. He started his political career back in 2010, when he ran as an independent candidate for the municipality of Karpenísi.
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