ATHENS – Greece’s nominee for its spot on the European Commission is being called an attempt by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to appeal to the center-right New Democracy’s hard-right members and is likely to fuel tensions with North Macedonia.

Apostolos Tzitzikostas is a three-term Governor of Central Macedonia, the province abutting Greece’s neighbor which agreed to a deal in 2018 under the then-ruling Radical Left SYRIZA to change its name from the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) to North Macedonia.

That didn’t sit well with Tzitzikostas, who tried to rally forces against it, and his selection by Mitsotakis comes at a time when a new government in North Macedonia is calling the country ‘Macedonia’, sparking new troubles.

In a review on his nomination, POLITICO said that Mitsotakis was appealing to his political base and signaling a rightward shift after New Democracy, which got 40.79 percent of the vote in 2023 general elections fell to just 28.3 percent in this June’s elections for the European Parliament.

That was seen to have been caused by disgruntlement in the party – including by former leader and previous premier Antonis Samaras – over Mitsotakis pushing through Parliament a same-sex marriage bill that alienated the far right and its religious wing.

“There is definitely a right-wing shift and a symbolic move by Mitsotakis to show that he is strengthening the right and returning to his party’s base,” said George Siakas, an Assistant Professor at the Democritus University of Thrace and Research Director at the Public Opinion Research Unit of the University of Macedonia.

Tzitzikostas has impressive credentials for a European post: he’s fluent in English and French, studied at Georgetown University in Washington, DC and University College in London, and was President of the European Committee of the Regions.

“I believe that my European experience, and in particular my experience in the presidency of an official European institution of the EU, contributed significantly to my selection,” he said, but Mitsotakis didn’t respond to the news site.

Tzitzikostas told POLITICO he considers himself a center-right and moderate politician, pointing out his electoral successes, although in 2013 inviting the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn to take part in a parade.

MACEDONIA WHAT?

He’s even fallen in line with the government despite the ruckus raised by the President and Prime Minister of North Macedonia who said they would call their country Macedonia internally but respect the name change internationally.

“My position on this issue is the same as that of the Greek government. This is an agreement with many problematic points, but it is binding for both countries,” Tzitzikostas said in downplaying his past hard-right stances.

In 2016, at the height of Europe’s migration crisis, Tzitzikostas abstained from the signing ceremony of a cooperation agreement between Thessaloniki and the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR to improve conditions for asylum seekers.

New Democracy is trying frantically to keep out refugees and migrants, including what critics and human rights groups said included pushing them back – which the government denied – but drawing fire from activists too.

“Mitsotakis is trying to buy time and show that he is creating a new internal balance. It is more of a communication manipulation than a new political direction,” said political analyst Lefteris Kousoulis.

The nomination came after Samaras sniped at Mitsotakis in unusual dissension within the party that has a range of political flanks, Tzitzikostas now saying he is in the center-right portion, not the far right.

Said an upset Samaras: “The people trusted the center-right to govern them, not political doctors without borders. We were met with disdain … If the government treats even the former prime minister like this, why shouldn’t the people consider them arrogant?”

Siakas said Tzitzikostas has standing and support in among the Conservatives. “He has been a key ally of Mitsotakis since he ran for the party leadership in 2016, and without him, Mitsotakis might not have won,” he said.

And Tzitzikostas was quickly tabbed for the EU post after what some Greek media said were disappointing June elections for New Democracy and reports he might break away to form a far-right fringe party in opposition.

But he was chosen because he is “born and bred” New Democracy, said Greek government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis, and his tough stance on North Macedonia aligns with that of Mitsotakis, who said Greece could block its neighbor’s bid to get into the European Union and NATO if the name flap reemerges.