ANEL set to announce Baltakos as MEP candidate

Panayiotis Baltakos, an ultra-conservative senior official in the New Democracy government of Antonis Samaras, will stand as a candidate for Independent Greeks (ANEL) in the upcoming European Parliament elections, reports said Wednesday.

His candidacy was expected to be confirmed later Wednesday.

Last year, Baltakos formed a political party – called Force of Hellenism – with Dimitris Kammenos, an ultranationalist lawmaker who parted ways with ANEL over the Macedonia name deal.

It was not clear what Baltakos’s candidacy would mean for the project.