The amendment brought to the Parliament for a vote by the government, in order to block the participation of the Kasidiaris party in the elections, has developed into a field of intense confrontation between the political forces.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis, from West Thessaloniki where he toured, held the opposition parties to account for their responsibilities and left sharp points against SYRIZA, saying that “those who do not vote for the amendment are turning a blind eye to the Golden Dawn”.

“We are bringing a new amendment that enables the full composition of the Supreme Court’s division to interpret the law we have passed and to raise this wall which should under normal circumstances unite all democratic forces. Tomorrow in the Parliament they will all take their responsibility. Those who will not vote for this amendment are the same ones who are finally turning a blind eye to the “Golden Dawn”. They are the ones who ultimately want this form to be found in the parliament somehow. I want to remind in the past whenever needed he accompanied them. Together they voted to bring down the government of Antonis Samaras. And for the changes to the electoral law, they had cooperated together. Here, then, everyone will be judged. And I make an appeal to all the democratic forces of the country tomorrow, essentially the last day of parliament’s operation before the Parliament is dissolved, to finally agree. Let’s put aside any differences and realize that this issue is a major issue of Democracy. “Golden Dawn” is a criminal organization, condemned. We must not relive in the Greek parliament what we experienced during the times of crisis. And all together let’s raise an obstacle, an embankment to these plans that some are making. And I hope that, finally, by tomorrow, logic will prevail. Short psalm though, tomorrow we will know and everyone will finally be held accountable for their behavior. And, you know, the real intentions are hidden in the vote in the parliament and not in the words.”

Interior Minister Makis Voridis accused SYRIZA of “turning a blind eye to anti-systemic voting” with its stance of not voting for any of the government’s legislative initiatives aimed at preventing parties with these characteristics from participating in the elections. He attributed to the official opposition party, that with its attitude it shows “turning a blind eye (…) to the non-ideological audience” and belongs to that which is “simply blindly angry with the system and wants to protest and punish in the harshest way.”

The minister emphasized that “these provisions are neither photographic, nor do they describe anything specific, nor do they prejudge or want to dominate the judgment of the court, nor do they want to say anything about how the court will decide. None of these”. We, he said, “have a clear position, that the people who have committed such crimes should not have a place in the political system. We do not want to get votes from them, nor to have a dialogue with them, nor to have pats, nor to leave margins, nor to have ambiguous political attitudes. “Others are the ones who keep an ambivalent attitude, hiding from the fact that ‘allegedly you did not accept one or the other proposal'”.

The attitude of the opposition parties

SYRIZA’s rapporteur Miltos Hatzigiannakis criticized the government that “with its manipulations, something institutionally unimaginable happened: Arguing and disagreeing with the competent vice-president of the 1st Department of the Supreme Court”. He pointed out that SYRIZA and a number of constitutional experts “we told you when you brought the provision, that it will create more problems, that it is deeply problematic”.

Mr. Hatzigiannakis acknowledged that “I am not saying that politically and legally there is an easy solution. Nevertheless, you did what you shouldn’t have done. You brought a deeply problematic provision, then, which you are now de facto coming to change, by adding clarifications, as to exactly how the specific A1 Department of the Supreme Court will be called.” He argued that “the sloppiness with which you legislate and your eagerness to do things, which are not consistent with the Constitution, has unfortunately led you to this kind of alalum, which we are living in the last days of your administration, bringing the exact opposite result”.

Mr. Hatzigiannakis accused the government that “it has now thrown a lot of water into the mill of the Kasidiaris party, that you have really started to make him a hero in the eyes of a very large part of the world. You are now coming into conflict even with justice itself, with the competent Department, because you are basically telling them that ‘we don’t trust you to cut it and we have to define for you how it will be cut'”.

“Our position is clear: We do not want neo-Nazi images and racist images, we do not want them to be able to participate in Parliament and, as we told you from the first amendment, there should have been a clear reference to the issues of racist legislation, xenophobic legislation and neo-Nazi legislation, fascist legislation and all the bypasses. We also agreed with the proposals of Kontiadis – Alivizatos. Unfortunately, you then rejected them.”

The special buyer of PASOK-KINAL, Evangelia Liakoulis, stated that “our position was and remains clear and is not determined according to whether it is convenient for us in relation to the percentages that the parties will receive in the upcoming elections”: We, she said, “support any measure that excludes a criminal organization from participating in elections, because this is the protection of democracy. Democracy must protect itself and of course respect the guarantees of the rule of law. Democracy must not allow its worthy enemies to use institutional guarantees that it provides against it, when they exceed the law of the order”.

Mrs. Liakoulis even asked SYRIZA to take these into account, and not to “sacrifice everything in the field of micropolitics”. He emphasized that “no matter how tired our society is, it must never, ever, lose its stamp, its democratic sensitivity towards events, such as those of criminal organizations that wear the cloak of political formation”. Referring to the government’s way of legislating on the issue, he characterized it as “incredibly sloppy and quite late”, he blamed it for “letting Ilias Kasidiaris act politically from prisons” and wondered if he calculated things differently, “but other election data emerged and you were forced to do all this.” He underlined that PASOK’s proposal was that the judgment of the Supreme Court be made by the Plenary of the Supreme Court due to its seriousness.

The special buyer of the KKE, Maria Komninaka, said that “the repeated amendments brought by the government, in fact, confirm that these criminal Nazi organizations cannot be blocked by legislative regulations. There are not lacking and will not cease to be lacking, if you like, various scumbags who will make use of these parties, trying to appear with a camouflaged face and if you still want, they could probably without any condemned in their lines, attempt their descent and continue to freely pour their racist poison on the people”. For this, the KKE says that “Nazi ideology and action are not dealt with by such arrangements, but are dealt with and isolated from the people and the youth through organized struggle in the neighbourhoods, workplaces, in schools and colleges – and they were really who sent where they sent the criminal gold diggers and who will send again whenever necessary their various remains”. He described “hypocritical the anxiety and interest of the government, as, like the previous one, they did nothing to take all the necessary measures, so that this trial does not drag on for more than eight years in the courts”. He clarified that “our disagreement with this amendment is what this supposed increased composition of the A1 Department of the Supreme Court wants to ensure” saying that what it will ensure is “the implementation of a dangerous legislative framework, which enables the The Supreme Court, in every electoral battle, should proceed with an expanded control of the operation, the action of the internal parties and that the judges may request the assistance of security services such as the EYP”.

The special buyer of Hellenic Solution, Antonis Mylonakis, emphasized that his party is “against this Nazi formation. We have fought against both this Nazi formation and the offshoots of National Socialism, which come and grow inside the Parliament.” He stated that these “three and a half years, a prisoner, who while he has been punished for acts of the penal code, you let him turn into a political prisoner. To give lectures, to play with social media, to make excuses from prisons and to send extrajudicial orders”. The MP said that “one is a Greek nationalist and another is a Greek Nazi. We are talking about Nazism here.” Commenting on the opinion that justice needs to be shielded with an increased composition court that will judge the legitimacy of a party, he said that “it is like saying that the government does not trust the Supreme Court and the head of its A1 Department” adding that “if if you were in the position of Mr. Tzanerikos, you would say I resign”.

The special buyer of MeRA 25, Sofia Sakorafa, as well as the ND rapporteur Efstathios Constantidis, did not want to make any special report regarding the relevant amendment.

The draft law of the Ministry of the Interior “Regulations concerning Local Government Organizations of the first and second degree – Provisions for the welfare of companion animals – Provisions for the human resources of the public sector – Other regulations of the Ministry of the Interior and other urgent provisions” was voted by a majority and during its second reading in the Committee on Public Administration, Public Order and Justice and is introduced with the amendments that have been tabled, tomorrow in plenary for discussion and voting.

Source: SKAI, APE-MPE