The political thermometer rose to the heights in the Parliament, during the discussion of the insurance bill, with intense verbal confrontations between the Minister of Labor Adonis Georgiadis and the leaders of the parties, “Niki”, Dimitris Natsios and “Spartiaton”, Vassilis Stigas, on the occasion of the amendment for the “land workers”.

Initially, the reaction of Mr. Georgiadis to the accusations of the president of “Niki” was strong, who said that “the government is not interested in the future of the country but in the next elections” and rejected the amendment arguing that “the country is Islamized».

“Precisely because we are interested in the future of Greece, we are bringing this amendment, which has an obvious political cost for the government and me personally, but I did not hesitate to bring it”, argued Mr. Georgiadis.

Alongside, accused the leader of “Niki” for “attempting to impress and win votes with patriotic crowns and shallow arguments”.

“Disagreements are good to get votes from immigration, but how to solve the labor shortage is none of your business. Your position is also strongly unpatriotic. Why, isn’t it patriotism for the Greek economy to be strong? Without a strong economy will we have a strong defense, foreign policy? Will we be able to give maternity benefits to solve the demographic problem? I assert, Mr. President, that if between the two of us someone serves the national interest, it is me and not you, who, for reasons of impression and vote-hunting, are indifferent to the economic future of the country, as if the strong economy is not based on the defense of the national interest. The various embellished caricatures of a historical nature proved the shallowness of your arguments”, stressed Mr. Georgiadis.

Then the Minister of Labor characterized Mr. Natsios’s arguments are comical that “Greece will become a beacon of illegal immigrants”, arguing that “the amendment defends the national interest because it tries to bring order to black insecure work and because it is a major security issue”.

“You accused us of being interested in the elections and all you did was send an invitation for the European elections. But you who are cut for demographics, you didn’t care about the mother who gets nine months maternity pay, but you were interested in how to get a better percentage in the European elections. So, between the two of us, if anyone in this room did easy patriotism and demagoguery, it’s not ND, it’s “Niki” and Mr. Natsios”, said Mr. Georgiadis,

“You said that if the economy grows, so does patriotism. No, Palamas said that our homeland should be equipped, but that these weapons should be held by Greek hands. And there is the big problem with demographics”, commented Mr. Nazi while he invoked the reaction of former Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, noting that he too finds that there is a huge problem with the amendment. “You want Greece to become a space and not a country,” he said.

“All hands are good, Arab, Greek, Pakistani, but if you don’t have planes, armor and modern technology, you’re walking. So let’s not talk nonsense among ourselves here just to make a rhetorical impression. The money for the demographics, our national defense, good education and health are the needs of the present time. What do they need for all this? Money. So, instead of arguing, vote for our amendment. It will be a great patriotic act and not anti-national as some light netizens think,” retorted the Labor Minister.

Intense confrontation between Georgiadis and Stiga

The tones rose even more between the Minister of Labor and the president of the “Spartians” Vassilis Stigas, when the latter, in his intervention, called yesterday’s statements by Mr. Georgiadis out of place that the party is illegal.

“Last night, Mr. Georgiadis took the opportunity to take government bile. You said that in this Parliament, a party, the “Spartans”, entered illegally. You have channeled terrorism, saying it is only a matter of time before you throw us out. Why are you in such a hurry? Do you think we “Spartans” will be afraid? No. We have done nothing to be afraid and of course this will be judged by the Justice and not you. If it is assumed that a party passed illegally and creates problems, it will be investigated by the Areios Pagos, which examined the “Spartiates”. Therefore, let the Justice do its job”, said Mr. Stigas. “You shamelessly say, “you are friends of Kasidiaris”. Where does it come from? Because he supported us? I did not understand. Are we not humanitarians because we don’t want illegal immigrants? Well, we don’t want them, because we believe that there is a serious problem in our country. Why are you trying, Mr. Minister, to turn black into white for us?” said the leader of the “Spartans” and continued:

“You have been moving. Once you didn’t want illegal immigrants, now you do. When circumstances change you change too, like the chameleon. We have always had these positions and will have them in the future. Here we are, you will see, we are not going to get lost, nor are we going to leave here because we have arguments and we really haven’t done anything. I have already stated that I, as a man, would not accept being led by anyone.”

The reaction of Mr. Georgiadis, commenting that “the political phenomenon called ‘Spartans’ has surpassed all imagination”. “Mr. Kasidiaris managed to put a party out of nowhere in the Parliament and I must admit that it is not easy, it is difficult, and that says something. We all knew that it is the party of Mr. Kasidiari. There is no doubt whatsoever that he ordered the vote from prison. It is your driving force”, emphasized Mr. Georgiadis and continued:

“However, this is not enough in court to depose you, because your statement does not prove the alleged leadership. But you said “my party has fallen victim to a ‘Greek mafia’ that takes orders from the prisons of Domokos”. So with your statements, Mr. President, from the floor of the Parliament, in my opinion, the discussion of the alleged leadership has ended. Because when the president of a parliamentary group admits that someone else is the leader and he is alone, and when he says that there is no member of his party next to him, all discussion is over. I believe that all this is impossible not to be noticed by the court. Wait. That speech of yours in the Parliament is the reason you will be dismissed from your positions”.

“But what is most heartbreaking, is why all this commotion, why did the Spartans fight?” Why did the Parliament give the first 40,000 euros which went to Mr. Stiga, as president of the Parliamentary Group. When the others realized that he will eat them himself they became furious. That’s what it’s about. For 40,000 all the fuss was made. Therefore the supposedly great patriots who accused us of being pilgrims, finally fought for 40,000 euros. And that shows your real power of ideas. Your patriotism was worth 40,000 euros and your leader, according to your joint statement, is Ilias Kasidiaris, so according to the law, you were illegally declared MPs in the Parliament”, said Mr. Georgiadis, causing the strong reaction of Mr. Stigas.

“From a liar and a slob, I don’t take cues. What you don’t know and want to make the legislator and the judge, the 40,000 euros was not taken by Stigas but by the “Spartiates” party and entered the “Spartiates” account. So you are a filthy liar and slanderer that money is the cause. Money is the reason for your butt-flips. In my testimony to the public prosecutor, I said “it is possible that some deputies recognize Kasidiaris as the leader”. At the stage here, I did not mention the name of Kasidiaris”, answered leader of the Spartans and added:

“You didn’t dare to bring before the elections the terrible law on same-sex marriage and procreation because you were afraid, nor to talk about the crematoria you are preparing for the small and medium-sized. So you are a fraud by definition. So don’t lecture us. We have values. Now if it hurts you that the prisoner helped us, in the sense that he supported us it is not bad. Therefore you will gather your tongue and your mouth when you talk about the “Spartans”.

“Exasperation is not a good counselor. I obviously struck a chord with you and you acted like this. I leave it to the voters to decide. But judge yourself”, responded Mr. Georgiadis and added: “You claimed we didn’t say about gay marriage. Was ND ever in its history, and especially during the presidency of Kyriakos Mitsotakis, but also before, a party with homophobic characteristics? ND is a modern, center-right, European party, which respects human rights, which respects all people and their differences and surrounds them with love.”