Ruling New Democracy refused on Monday to accept official requests by opposition parties PASOK, SYRIZA and KKE to launch a parliamentary investigation into former ministers named in the case file recently submitted to the Parliament by the European Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) over the OPEKEPE agricultural subsidies scandal. ND’s refusal triggered fierce political reactions.
Opposition parties SYRIZA and New Left filed a joint request to the Greek Parliament on Monday to launch a parliamentary investigation into former ministers Spilios Livanos and Fotini Arabatzi named in the case file recently submitted to the Parliament over the OPEKEPE agricultural subsidies scandal. The proposal is supported by opposition PASOK that has already filed a similar request last week.
SYRIZa/NewLeft proposal will need 120 votes in the Parliament to pass it and this would mean the majority of opposition parties and some independent MPs will support it.
In a separate move, the socialist, main opposition party, submitted on Monday to the Parliament a formal request demanding a parliamentary investigation into the spyware scandal, where over 80 ND ministers, high-ranking government officials, journalists but also PASOK leader, Nikos Androulakis were under surveillance allegedly for “reasons of national security.”
Government reaction: “No”
Via government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis, ruling New Democracy said it will reject opposition calls to launch a preliminary parliamentary investigation into the two former ministers.
“There is no basis for further action,” Marinakis said during a journalists briefing on Monday.
“There is no evidence that would warrant a preliminary investigation, therefore the government majority’s response will be negative,” he said. “These requests will not be accepted, as they are not based on evidence, not even on indications.”
Strong reactions by PASOK, SYRIZA and KKE
After Marinakis ‘No” to parliamentary investigation of former Rural Development Minister Livanos, and former Deputy Minister, Arabatzi PASOK and SYRIZAstarted to “shoot” at the government accusing it of “cover up”, brought sweeping political reactions.
“Degeneracy and populism have their limits, Mr. Marinakis” PASOK commented. Leader Androulakis lashed out at ND stressing “New Democracy and Kyriakos Mitsotakis were elected with the central stake of repairing the wounds in the institutions” and that “instead, it is a government mired in scandals, corruption and clientelism, treating the state as their personal loot and thus to such an extent, in fact, that even government MPs are revolting against the over-concentration of powers in small nuclei in Maximou [PM’s office]” .
In the same wavelength also SYRIZA saying “the government’s “no” in the preliminary investigation for the scandal of OPEKEPE constitutes another cover-up operation.”
“They even refuse to investigate, despite the European Public Prosecutor’s Office’s case file that records evidence of offenses and clear political responsibility for interventions, alterations and favorable treatment, which resulted in damage to European funds. They draw their own ‘conclusion’ in advance and attempt to close a serious case before it has even been checked,” noted SYRIZA, commenting that “at the same time that they voted to lift the immunity of MPs, citing the investigation by the Justice Department, they are denying the ministers the obvious: the Pre-Inquiry.”
Fierce was the attack of the KKE, that spoke of “ND party rodents and other cunning people benefited at the expense of farmers.
In a statement the party emphasized “the government’s provocative refusal to establish a preliminary investigation committee for its two ministers involved in the OPEKEPE case is another episode in the attempt to cover up a government scandal, from which various ND party rodents and other cunning people benefited at the expense of struggling farmers.”
“With this stance, the governing majority of ND is not only exonerating its ministers, but is also trying to preempt the investigation into its controlled and implicated MPs.”
The KKE will support the proposal for the formation of a pre-investigation committee of PASOK and SYRIZA, KKe said.
PS The main problem with New Democracy is there is a scandal every let’s say two weeks involving ministers, MPs or high-ranking officials and this reality does not seem to come to an end soon, as the European Prosecutor’s Office is reportedly preparing a third case file regarding OPEKEPE.
