Started at 19:00 as scheduled the debate in the Parliament for the motion of no confidence against the government filed by the President of PASOK, Nikos Androulakis.
The debate is expected to last a total of three days and will close with the statement of the Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, on Thursday afternoon followed by a roll call vote.
According to the Rules of Procedure and the Constitution, a motion of no-confidence is only accepted if it receives an absolute majority, i.e. at least 151 “in favour”, otherwise it is rejected and the right to table a new motion of no-confidence is withdrawn for six months.
Watch the debate live:
As the five-page document states, “the criminal negligence and indifference of the government was added to the similarly criminal and methodical attempt to cover up the case and create a veil of protection for specific persons.”
An example of devaluation and serious decline of the rule of law and institutions in our country, for which the government majority is solely responsible, is the conversion of the Ministry of Interior into an election center of New Democracy, as shown by the illegal leakage and use of personal data of thousands of Greek voters abroad to the ruling party and its candidates,” it said.
The motion of no-confidence is signed by PASOK, SYRIZA, New Left and Eleftherias.
The position of Androulakis
The motion of no-confidence was tabled in the plenary shortly after 16:30 with Androulakis arguing that the government is systematically undermining the rule of law.
In his statement, the PASOK president began by saying that “I am taking a critical institutional initiative today because the government of the Southwest has made a habit of systematically undermining the rule of law.
In a series of scandals we are experiencing the same pattern. Corruption, cover-up, impunity.
In every scandal, government failure your political choice is to hide the truth instead of choosing the path of truth.”
“A few days ago, from this podium opposite the empty government benches, the empty chair of Prime Minister and Karamanlis, I pointed out that the tragedy of Tempi symbolizes your political failure,” he added, noting that the nation is watching a systematic attempt to cover up the tragedy.
“We asked for a preliminary investigation committee for the non-execution of 717 and you said ‘no’.
The inquiry you set up excluded crucial witnesses on your own responsibility, he said, accusing the government of insolence for excluding the former head of the transparency authority from the witness list.
On the government’s side, State Minister Makis Voridis responded by calling for the immediate start of the proceedings while returning the gauntlet to Harilaou Trikoupis, calling Androulakis a “proxy of publishing interests”.
“It creates an impression of the specific proposal. Because everything you have developed are issues that have been discussed in plenary many times. We discussed the issues of Tempe in the Inquiry.
The Plenary also debated on the report. The other issues exist, everyone has their own approaches, but all this time they have been on our minds,” said Mr. Voridis.
“When we say that you are a proxy, we mean exactly this publication.
It is welcome and creates another impression. I have statements from the opposition chairman saying ‘show’ and ‘cockfight’ will be the debate.
Is that what you have signed up to? Is it to be a show and a cockfight that will have no effect? Of course it will have no effect.
The Parliament and the Greek people will give an answer to the motion of no confidence in the forthcoming elections. We want the process to begin immediately,” he said.
What the government will do
The government, for its part, is determined not to let anything go down, abandoning the defensive strategy it has long maintained on the Tempe issue.
Despite the behind-the-scenes discussions and processes that have been going on for the past few days, following the publication of the newspaper “To Vima” about a “montage” in the Tempi sound system, the government continues to insist that an operation of attrition is underway with the aim of bringing it down, with the synchronisation of business interests and opposition parties.
Government officials, moreover, stood on the “timing” of the impeachment motion announced by Androulakis, just hours after the publication of the Sunday newspaper.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who was in direct telephone consultation with his close associates over the past three days, returns to Greece today until noon and is expected to make his appearance in the Parliament on Thursday, responding in high tones to the opposition impeachments.
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For the ruling party, the parliamentary process, and the image of being in the midst of crossfire, is potentially a rallying point. After all, party rallying was a declared goal of Kyriakos Mitsotakis in view of the European elections, given that the parameters of the loose vote and the protest vote exist.
Indicative, however, of the prevailing mood in the high-level government echelons was the quote of Health Minister Adonis Georgiades, who yesterday posted on Facebook, stressing that “powerful economic interests do not want Kyriakos Mitsotakis to have the political power that the people gave him in the recent national elections.”
“The opposition has rallied around these interests and all together, instead of political arguments, they are promoting the relatives of the dead, before whom we all give in because that’s what we have to do,” Georgiades said.
Preparations in the government camp, however, are also intensive in view of the upcoming parliamentary trimester.
At this morning’s coffee meeting, there was a detailed discussion on the procedure and there will be a discussion in a close circle once the Prime Minister arrives at Maximou.
Most of those blue MPs who are also on the list of speakers will sign up to support the ruling party.
