For the first time in the history of the Greek Parliament the Speaker did not allow the leader of a political party, and in this case the leader of main opposition party, to speak during a session.
The unprecedented incident took place on Friday when Parliament Speaker Konstantinos Tasoulas refused to give the floor to Alexis Tsipras who was about to start speaking about the “huge debt of ruling New Democracy.”
Tasoulas cited reasons of “Parliament regulation” and in the end halted the session all together in order to “save the dignity of the Parliament” as he said. He described Tsipras’ request to speak at the session as “an attempt to establish an out-of-regulation practice,” arguing that party leaders, parliamentary groups and former prime ministers have the right to take the floor anytime except during “current questions.” The Speaker accused Tsipras of “political activism.”
Tsipras challenged him urging Tasoulas to show which article of the Parliament regulation forbids the leader of main opposition of speaking at the Parliament.
Tsipras stressed that the Speaker is “well aware that the one who violates the Rules of Procedure is the prime minister who is normally absent from the established The Prime Minister’s Hour. ”
What is interesting is that during the Tasoulas-Tsipras argument, the Parliament Speaker was reportedly receiving notices under the hand.
Tsipras asked the Speaker to stand up to the circumstances “as president of the entire Greek Parliament and not as a president who takes notices from the prime minister’s associates.”
Ιt should be noted the New Democracy debt increased by some 118 million euros in the last four years, especially after Kyriakos Mitsotakis became party leader in 2016. The ruling party attempted to justify the increase blaming the banks and the high interest rates.
Ιn a recent statement, ND said that the total of interest rates summed up to 158 million euros in the last five year, thus appearing as if the bank loans have increased to 342 million euros.
Democracy is not assured in any country. When the Speaker of the Parliament is taking instructions from others in real time, then you can be sure that democracy is under serious attack.
Is tjhis the commie who soldf out to the mean spirted Germans for money, Macedonains for history, and invited and Erdogan who tried to pirate while defying solidarity by voting “present”… oh please, spare us oh holier than thou when what you advocated you betrayed to worsen terms leading to a a decade of despair and depression.