The motion of no confidence by the president of SYRIZA – PS Alexis Tsipras monopolized the country's political scene this week.
Before the leader of the official opposition proceeded with this act, he met with the president of the Authority for Ensuring the Privacy of Communications (ADAE), Christos Rammos, giving him information that, according to information, was evidence of the monitoring of the country's leading institutional actors, which are substantiated after the relevant investigation carried out by ADAE.
"Fortunately, there are still judges in Athens. And the light of the Republic once again defeated the darkness", said the president of SYRIZA as he left.
Mr. Rammos has expressed his desire to present precisely these elements to the Parliament's Institutions and Transparency Committee, with the government not only being inactive, but indulging in an unprecedented game of impressions. Who can forget the line that Constantinos Tassoulas uttered when he was asked about it? "There are no uninvited witnesses," the Speaker of the House said last Thursday, once again confirming the government's strong will to "cover up" the scandal.
Then followed the meeting with the President of the Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou in order for Mr. Tsipras to inform her about the development in the wiretapping issue.
During the short dialogue in the presence of journalists, Mr. Tsipras said: "I asked to meet you in order to express my anxiety and deep concern for phenomena that disrupt the orderly functioning of the state. The Greek democracy remains a state. This is indisputable, therefore I think the time has come for the political system to take responsibility and rise to the occasion."
For her part, the President of the Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou replied: "Thank you for the initiative of the meeting and the information, I seek communication with the political forces of the place. On the subject of monitoring, I have placed myself within the framework of my competences. It is a serious issue, which is connected to the functioning of institutions and the quality of democracy. When I was appointed I always expressed through legal procedures the need for clarification. We are a state governed by the rule of law, and the matter is dealt with on a case-by-case basis by the Human Rights Commission and the Parliament, as well as the judicial authorities where it has gone to some extent.
A letter from the Head of A.D.A.E., Mr. Christos Rammos, was received by all the opposition parties with the president of PASOK Nikos Androulakis to state "he informs me of the results of the Independent Authority's investigation, since the parliamentary majority of the New Democracy prohibits to this day the legal informing of the Parliament and by extension the entire Greek people".
Mr. Androulakis states in his statement that "The Prime Minister has two obligations. To answer the relentless questions and cause the Parliament's Institutions and Transparency Committee to be informed tomorrow."
Then Mr. Tsipras, with his intervention in the Plenary Session of the Parliament, tabled a motion of no confidence, as he emphasized, "we are submitting a motion of no confidence against the Government, as a first step of the march to the people for the defense of democracy, transparency and justice. The Parliament will be asked to decide: With Democracy or with diversion". "And soon the final and correct answer to the question will be given by the Greek people. Who will take the cause of democracy into his own hands. The case of his own life" characteristically added the leader of the official opposition.
And the prime minister from Crete who was on a tour spoke to him about the government's planning for the development course of Crete and then the Mr. Mitsotakis he responded to Alexis Tsipras, characteristically saying "The motion of no confidence is welcome".
"I've been challenging him for a long time. It is an opportunity not only to confirm the cohesion of our parliamentary group but to compare 4-year achievements", added the Prime Minister.
"I do not seek conflict but comparison. He has no proposals for the future of the country, but no one from SYRIZA can talk about the past either... On Friday we will take a vote of confidence and until we announce the elections we will continue to do our work", added Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
At the same time, the attack by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis against ADAE President Christos Rammos after the disclosure of the names of EYP targets by Alexis Tsipras in Parliament was unprecedented. "For the president of the independent authority, we will see along the way how independent he and his colleagues are" was the disgust of his speech during his speech at the Conference Cultural Center of Heraklion, in the context of a ND event.
"Mr. Tsipras wrote the preface to his defeat with the motion of no confidence. It will turn into a proposal of his own disloyalty to the people," said Kyriakos Mitsotakis from Crete.
Even the Makis Voridis regarding Tsipras' revelations in Parliament about the wiretapping scandal, he stated that "it is not illegal to monitor state officials". The Minister of the Interior, in fact, speaking on the SKAI radio station, characterized the entire discussion on the issue as hypocritical.
"Let's end the hypocritical discussion about surveillance", noted Makis Voridis, stating that if in the past the official opposition knew that the vice-president of the European Parliament was being monitored, they would have reacted, however now "Mr. Tsipras is congratulating on the disclosure of the corruption case ».
One of the names being monitored is that of Minister Kostis Hatzidakis, who spoke in the Parliament and talked about some "Clouzos" who used their spy against him. The Minister of Labor also made it clear that he does not associate the Prime Minister with the matter.
"It's not nice, no doubt about it. I never imagined that there would be a motion of no confidence in the government and I was a central figure," he told ANT1 Kostis Hatzidakis.
In an indirect admission that the EYP was monitoring the leader GEETHA Kon. Floros, the current Minister of Labor K. Hatzidakis and four other persons, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis did for the first time, who, in his attempt to free himself from the suffocating rope of the stormy questions that the leader of SYRIZA asked him earlier, characterized them and legal – although he does not know them until today, as he said!.
Using legal terms that are difficult for citizens to understand, Mr. Mitsotakis wanted to soften the unfavorable impressions for the government and himself from the surveillance scandal, by identifying the president of ADAE, Mr. Rammos, but also creating impressions, as well as legal doubts for the manner in which the above mentioned, to the leader of SYRIZA, the file with the results of the wiretapping investigations and mainly for the fact that Mr. Tsipras made public the names of those monitored.
He, in fact, almost directly accused Mr. Tsipras of illegally publishing the names, but also of actually knowing in advance information, which he does not have, nor does he have information about. An answer that obviously runs counter to common sense, when the prime minister claims that he has not been informed until today of the reasons why the EYP was monitoring the head of the Armed Forces, a top minister, a former adviser and three other high-ranking military officials .
Finally, for his part, Mr. Tsipras, addressing Kyriakos Mitsotakis about the wiretapping scandal, stated that "today you cannot put it to rest. Because quite simply the prince who thought he became a king is now naked." "If you attempt, like your ministers, in a debate that you did not even dare to turn into a vote of confidence, to once again make an accusatory monologue, throwing the ball on the podium, talking about anything but the snuffbox, you will simply confirm your guilt" added the official opposition leader.
Alexis Tsipras described yesterday's meeting in the Parliament as "historically important" as, as he said, "everything will be said on the way to the elections. Today, however, the Parliament is called upon to decide whether it is with the Republic or with the diversion". Concluding his speech, Alexis Tsipras characteristically emphasized that "I therefore step down from the podium, handing you over not only to the judgment of the parliamentarians, our listeners, the people who listen to us. But also in the crisis of history. You will go down in history as a great blow to the country. For society and the economy. But above all as a great wound for democracy itself."
*Frontpage picture: Ed Kashi