All hell broke loose during the parliamentary debate on the referendum on July 5 when centrist To Potami leader took the floor. “You never worked from your own toil. You always were on the party’s pay roll,” he said. Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) government deputies and those of the socialist PASOK party immediately reacted to these comments.

Theodorakis said that for a person to have “dignity” they must have work. “You are all party employees that got paid from the state whose ambition was to be government officials,” he said.

Following the meeting, Speaker of the House Zoe Konstantopoulou took the house, stating she was “saddened” by the provocation of the leader, adding that his comments were insulting to all strands of the left, adding that they were never “bosses” or “pimps” and offered all they could to the people.