Greek Parliament: Motion for censure increases polarization over wiretapping

Extreme polarization prevailed in Parliament at the start of the debate on the motion of censure submitted by Alexis Tsipras after the receipt of the Hellenic Authority for Communication Security and Privacy (ADAE) findings. In response, Kyriakos Mitsotakis reported from Crete that “Mr. Tsipras wrote the preface of his defeat by himself by filing a motion of no confidence”, adding that “this will turn into a motion of his own disloyalty to the people”.

From the Prime Minister’s reaction, one can conclude that the Government expects the censure motion to backfire on the Leader of the main opposition. On the other hand, SYRIZA expects that through the discussion of the motion of no confidence against the Government, it will manage to fell a big blow at a critical moment, as the elections are now only a few months away.

How will the government deal with the impeachment censure motion?

From the first moment that the motion of censure was filed, the government considered that Mr. Tsipras made a big mistake and that he played his “cards” very badly, as he will rally the base of governing  New Democracy party, while at the same time underscoring the work that the government has done in recent years 3.5 years, comparing it with the work of the corresponding SYRIZA Government. In this way, government officials estimate that the proposal will backfire

Regarding the surveillance case, they will insist that justice will shed light on the complaints, as well as that the prime minister was never informed of the eavesdropping on political figures. Furthermore, Mr. Mitsotakis will talk about a method that has been going on for some months, while he will point out that Alexis Tsipras has a privileged relationship with the head of ADAE, since he was the first to be informed, as the finding had not even been sent to the prime minister .

Finally, the Government is expected to refer to the past of SYRIZA. First of all, the case, which brought the former minister Nikos Pappa to a Special Court, with the testimonies of Christos Kalogritsas and his secretary, regarding black money to SYRIZA, the meetings with the businessman and Artemis Artemiou, having so far remained unanswered. At the same time, a second SYRIZA government minister, Dimitris Papagelopoulos, is also before a Special Court.

What SYRIZA expects from the debate on wiretapping?

SYRIZA claims that it is to its advantage that the prime minister did not turn the motion of censure into a vote of confidence, as the prime minister was afraid of party members leaving the flock. But the responsibility continues to fall on New Democracy MPs since they now have to shoulder the burden of their responsibility.

“All 156 will be forced to take a clear position with their vote, if they finally share the desire to turn a Mitsotakis scandal into a scandal for the faction as a whole,” say SYRIZA cadres.

In any case, the vote of the two former prime ministers, Antonis Samaras and Costas Karamanlis, is considered critical since they had publicly stated that if these scenarios were to prove true, it would obviously be a big blow to the Government.

“We have no illusions that the government will fall, but Mr. Mitsotakis is under no illusions that he will rally the party. It will not rally, but it will be exposed to the Greek public when one by one its MPs will justify the parastatal regime”, the official opposition point out meaningfully.

PASOK’s attitude is institutional

PASOK MP Evangelia Liakoulis, during her speech during the debate on the motion of no confidence, announced that the party is expected to vote against the Government, while she did not fail to say that Mr. Androulakis was the first to bring this matter to the public as he was the initial injured party.

Referring to the motion of no confidence in the government, she said that only PASOK addressed the wiretapping scandal in an institutional and legally virtuous way, “by going to the Supreme Court and not by humiliating the Parliament, as you two did a few minutes ago”.

Concluding, Ms. Liakoulis said that the dilemma of the upcoming elections will be “either with those who are capable of everything, as long as they have a position of power at the expense of the public interest, institutions and Democracy, or with those who are capable of sacrificing all such for the sake of social peace, prosperity and respect for human rights”.

In favor of the motion of no confidence Hellenic Solution, KKE, MeRa25

The rapporteurs of Hellenic Solution, KKE, and MeRa 25 stated that they are going to vote against the Government. In favor of the motion of no confidence against the government, the rapporteurs of the Hellenic Solution, Antonis Mylonakis, and of MeRA25, Maria Apatzidis, accusing governing party of “regime, anti-democratic methods of illegal surveillance” and arguing that after the evidence presented by the president of the Hellenic Authority for Communication Security and Privacy, Christos Rammos must give concrete answers.

On the one hand, the rapporteur and Member of Parliament of the Hellenic Solution, Mr. Mylonakis spoke of “a gloomy day for democracy and the political system with all that was heard from some ministers” and emphasized that “the prime minister himself contributed to what happened tonight which lead to division and is of old-party perception”.

On the other hand, the special buyer and Member of Parliament of MeRA 25, Maria Apatzidis stated “We as MeRA25 were not founded to oppose ND or SYRIZA but to provide a comprehensive way out. Today on the agenda is “yes” or “no” for Mitsotakis Ltd. On this, our vote, our position, could not be clearer. No to the Mitsotakis government. No to Mitsotakis Ltd”.

“We vote censure against the government. We are not voting for her now. We have voted for the censure, from the first moment, on the street, in the struggles of the unions, of the popular movement that is fighting to overturn this policy”, said the parliamentary representative of tcommunist party KKE Thanasis Pafilis, in his intervention in the discussion of the motion of no confidence. “However, we vote to censure SYRIZA as well”, said KKE MP Thanasis Pafilis and denounced that the escalation is artificial, misleading and hypocritical.