The claim that New Democracy is a “breeding ground for murderers, pedophiles, rapists, criminals… national dumbasses [sic]”, inflaming the political climate, was made by SYRIZA MEP Nikos Pappas, provoking a reaction from the government as well. Government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis even issued a statement calling for his expulsion from SYRIZA.

It all started when the MEP posted a video by artist Christoforos Zaralykos on Instagram, captioning it “a breeding ground for murderers, pedophiles, rapists, criminals… national idiots” and accompanying it with the logo of New Democracy.

For his part, Marinakis accused Pappas of an “unprecedented insulting rant”, pointing out that a sitting MEP is attacking members of an entire party with vulgar language. He noted that if SYRIZA was a “normal party”, Pappas would have already been expelled, without the need for government intervention.

“But because we are referring to the party of prefixes, threats, and the logic of ‘us or them’ and ‘either we finish them or they finish us’, we imagine that once again there will be the cover for these miserable behaviors,” he said.

At the same time, the government spokesman accused the opposition that, at a time when society is demanding truth and justice for the tragedy of Tempe, “a part of it chooses to use the tragic accident as an excuse to sow hatred and division.”

A detailed statement by the government spokesman:

“For the few bona fide people who until today maintained doubts about who is cultivating hatred and investing in toxicity, especially at this time, we refer them to today’s post on social networks by SYRIZA MEP Nikos Pappas, in which he calls New Democracy a “breeding ground for murderers, pedophiles, rapists, criminals, …national idiots”, adding the logo of the New Democracy, to complete his unprecedented insulting rant.
In short, a sitting representative of our country in the European Parliament, among other insults, describes the members of an entire party as “murderers” and “rapists” and it is not the first time that this MEP has made such vile remarks.

If we were dealing with a normal party, then Nikos Pappas would have already been removed from the leadership of SYRIZA, without the need for our announcement.

But since we are referring to the party of preambles, threats, the logic of “us or them” and “either we finish them or they finish us”, we imagine that there will once again be the cover for these miserable behaviors from a sitting MEP.

At a time when the entire citizenry is seeking truth and justice for the Tempi tragedy, a section of the opposition is using a tragic accident as an excuse to sow hatred and division.”