Zoe Konstantopoulou took the floor in the Greek Parliament and launched another verbal assault on New Democracy MP Makarios Lazaridis, following his earlier clash with Diamantis Karanastasis.

From the podium, Konstantopoulou called Lazaridis a “slug,” “scum,” and “disgrace,” echoing the rhetoric of her party member Karanastasis, who earlier said Lazaridis was “a stain who wanted my shine.”

She also defended Karanastasis, saying:

“The person under the most vile attacks is Diamantis Karanastasis. The disgrace here is Lazaridis, along with all those shady figures in the background who think they can tarnish honest, principled people. I not only defend people like Diamantis, I honor them.”

She went on to say:

“Mr. Lazaridis has spread despicable lies, claiming Mr. Karanastasis is unemployed or an obscure artist. The truth is, he’s a self-made man from Larissa who came to Athens on his own, got into the top university, and left it behind to follow his dream. He was a successful lead actor on television, which he left to pursue theater. Now he spends countless hours locked inside Parliament.”

“He’s been the lead speaker for most of our legislative proposals, he serves on the road safety committee, and has pushed several important initiatives for driver safety. Mr. Lazaridis, who once chaired that committee, knows all this. He knows how many proposals Karanastasis made.”

“He also knows how he used to flatter and grovel to both of us from the very beginning — ‘Diamantis, you honor the committee,’ ‘Please, Diamantis,’ ‘I respect you, Diamantis.’ There are even messages. That’s what these people are — spineless and fake. I could call him a scum again, but I’ll keep it civil. Still, it’s outrageous that this man now dares claim Karanastasis is absent from Parliament.”

Earlier clash between Lazaridis and Karanastasis

Before Konstantopoulou’s remarks, tensions had already erupted between Lazaridis and Karanastasis during the same parliamentary session.

Lazaridis had responded to previous criticism from Konstantopoulou by saying:

“Yesterday morning I condemned Ms. Konstantopoulou’s unacceptable behavior toward a journalist who, as it happens, is married to Deputy Minister Mr. Mylonakis. I’m referring to Tina Messaropoulou. I also criticized the repeated absence of her appointed partner from Parliament. Of course, after all that, she made sure to bring him here today and gave him the title of lead speaker.”

He continued:

“What really struck me is that none of the opposition parties stood up for a woman, a wife and mother of two. Total silence. Are you all afraid of Ms. Konstantopoulou? Instead of a serious response, she called me political filth and a disgrace.”

Lazaridis also claimed that Konstantopoulou had launched an attack on his wife and daughter:

“She said they’re both on the payroll of the Truth Team. Even the Mafia leaves women and children out of it. My wife works for a private company, which Mr. Karanastasis often visits, and I’ll stop there.”

Karanastasis fires back

Responding to the accusations, Diamantis Karanastasis lashed out at Lazaridis:

“He’s a disgrace who was fawning over me from head to toe just to get a piece of my spotlight.”

He added:

“In both my award-winning artistic career and my parliamentary work, I’ve always focused on creating. My rule is simple: when you engage with dirt, you get dirty. And Lazaridis is the dirt. He sucked up to me from day one in Parliament, begging for some of my shine. I’ll leave him to wallow in his own downfall.”

Lazaridis responds again

Lazaridis responded once more:

“I honestly don’t understand what you’re talking about. I return your insults to you. I made a political critique — not a personal attack full of slurs, like the appointed MP did.”