Do we like Kyriakos Mitsotakis?
Our score: 5 out of 10. Real good on LGBTQ+ rights sits next to a hard line on asylum, a 'two genders' remark and a government under a cloud.
Mitsotakis has been running Greece since 2019, and as of late October 2026 he's out campaigning for the 2027 election. He told a crowd in Kilkis that New Democracy can't govern alongside any other party and wants an outright majority. The record I could open on his early life is thin, so this card is about the prime minister, not the backstory.
It's patchier on gender. In January 2025, in a chat with Enrico Letta, he said: “Yes, I happen to believe that there are two genders, male and female.” He called it his personal opinion, dictated by biology. To Vima reported it stood against his earlier positions, including a 2022 parliamentary speech on intersex people and a Pride TikTok, and commentators split on what to make of it. It's a remark, not a policy, but it's the kind of line the trans community notices.
Migration is where the harm check bites hardest. In July 2025 he announced Greece would suspend asylum processing for an initial three months for people arriving by sea from North Africa. He also said illegal entrants would be detained and that Greece was seeking direct cooperation with Libyan coastguards to turn boats back. His line was that “This emergency situation clearly demands emergency measures.” Where you land depends on whether you read it as a response to a surge or as shutting the door on people in need.
Then the spyware saga. In February 2026 an Athens court found four people guilty over the Predator spyware scandal, including Intellexa's founder Tal Dilian, with sentences totalling 126 years and eight months, eight of which must be served. The four remain free while they appeal. The Greek government says it lawfully monitored the communications of Socialist leader Nikos Androulakis and denies wrongdoing. The scandal cost the head of the intelligence service and a senior aide in Mitsotakis's office their jobs, and he later survived a no-confidence vote.
The farm-subsidy mess is the other storm. European prosecutors have investigated alleged fraud at OPEKEPE, the agency that paid out EU farm money, and wiretaps allegedly show elected officials trying to influence it. In June 2025 Mitsotakis wrote: “Let's be honest: We failed.” But Politico reported in August 2025 that he was using his majority to block a full investigation, and New Democracy instead backed a broader inquiry reaching back to 1998. The sources I read don't accuse him personally of taking anything; the complaint is about accountability.
So where does that leave us? He gets real credit for marriage equality when it cost him politically, and for owning up on the subsidies. Against that sit the asylum suspension, the 'two genders' line and a government that keeps being accused of marking its own homework. Anyone who wants a clean yes or no from this record is going to be disappointed.