The resignation of the Minister of Shipping, Miltiadis Varvitsiotis, was in the “air” for three days, after the uproar caused by his statement, which equated the 36-year-old Christos Karyotis with his abusers: Despite the public apologies of the outgoing, now, Minister of Shipping, resignation was a one-way street, given that horror and disgust at the crime at Blue Horizon was emphatically expressed by the prime minister.

According to reports, the resignation had been submitted since Friday and had been accepted, however, in the face of the unimaginable devastation in Thessaly and while the prime minister’s visit to the affected areas was imminent, it was agreed not to make it public earlier than today. In fact, there were multiple communications between the minister under resignation and Maximos. Finally, today at noon, and shortly before the briefing of the political editors by the government representative Pavlos Marinakis, the resignation became known.

Only a few minutes passed, and Mr. Marinakis also announced the name of Mr. Varvitsiotis’ successor at the Ministry of Shipping, who is none other than Mr. Christos Stylianidis. The relevant announcement of Mr. Marinakis was laconic: “After the resignation of Miltiadis Varvitsiotis, by the decision of the Prime Minister, the new Minister of Shipping and Island Policy is assumed by State MP Christos Stylianidis”, he said.

The key phrase, however, used by Mr. Marinakis, answering questions afterwards, was “everyone is constantly being judged. This process is ongoing.”

“As I said, everyone is constantly being judged. After the developments of the previous week, this decision was inevitable”, said, in particular, Pavlos Marinakis when asked to comment on the resignation of Miltiadis Varvitsiotis. Asked about the criteria for the selection of the new minister Christos Stylianidis, he said that he is a man with governmental experience who was the political head of a ministry that participates in KYSEA, with European and operational experience.

“We are all evaluated every day and this process is continuous,” he answered a subsequent question if this change in the government scheme is the only one. Asked if he thinks there is a government official who has political responsibility for the disasters in Thessaly and if the government is satisfied with Civil Protection, the government representative noted that this is a natural phenomenon that we have never encountered before and that no one could have predicted. Mr. Marinakis noted that we are now in the phase of immediate rehabilitation of those affected and the main concern of the state is to run the registrations quickly. “From there on, it is a given that when something like this happens, what was done, what was not done and what needs to be done must be investigated, taking into account the dimension of the phenomenon. It is not true that no works have been done. Important projects have been carried out, but the severity of the phenomenon was such that possibly none of them could have stopped this tension”, he added.