A veteran conservative lawmaker is sworn in as Greece’s new president

Greece’s new President Constantine Tassoulas, proper, takes an oath subsequent to Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Ieronimos throughout the swearing in ceremony on the Parliament, in Athens, Greece, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (AP)

ATHENS: Veteran conservative lawmaker Constantine Tassoulas was sworn in as Greece’s new president Thursday, as the federal government grapples with lingering public anger over a lethal rail catastrophe two years in the past.
The 65-year-old lawyer and former parliamentary speaker will serve a five-year time period in a largely ceremonial position. He succeeds Katerina Sakellaropoulou, a retired senior choose and the primary lady to carry the workplace.
A stalwart conservative, Tassoulas’ election marks a departure from the custom of looking for cross-party consensus for the presidency.
The center-right authorities is nonetheless coping with the fallout from a 2023 rail collision that killed 57 folks, which sparked strikes and mass protests over a perceived lack of political accountability.
At Thursday’s ceremony, presidential guards in pleated kilts, crimson caps, and billowing shirts slow-marched previous a makeshift memorial outdoors parliament. The tribute, adorned with candles and flowers, featured the names of the victims scrawled in crimson paint.
After his election final month, Tassoulas pledged to advertise nationwide unity.
“Greece must further enhance its international standing while also striving for progress and trust within,” he stated. “I believe these goals are widely shared.”
Despite sustaining a lead in opinion polls, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has seen his approval scores dip in current weeks. He is getting ready a Cabinet reshuffle in an effort to revive public confidence, as surveys point out his authorities is shedding help to fringe far-right events.
A small left-wing celebration, Course for Freedom, boycotted Thursday’s swearing-in ceremony in protest of the federal government’s dealing with of the rail catastrophe.