“We will vote on an important bill that will enter a special chapter in our parliamentary history,” said the Minister of Health, Adonis Georgiadis, intervening in the Plenary debate on the draft law of the Ministry of Education on the “Strengthening of the Public University – Framework for the operation of non-profit foreign branches” universities”.

The minister focused on the D part of the bill regarding the possibility of establishing branches of foreign universities as non-profit branches in our country, on the occasion of defending the provision of the amendment that has been submitted to the draft law for the extension until the end of 2024 of the increase regulation of the ceiling from 9 to 15% of the payment of the doctors’ paid on-call hours, saying “that’s why I think we all agree”.

Mr. Georgiadis, regarding the possibility of establishing foreign universities in Greece, reviewed the efforts made since 2008 to revise Article 16 of the Constitution that would allow the establishment of universities by legal entities, recalling that at that time “the required majority had been formed with PASOK’s consent at the time and I had experienced the tragic moment when four days later (from Thursday to Tuesday) we came to the Plenary and PASOK backed down, after a major intra-party conflict that had been mediated between Evangelos Venizelos, Anna Diamantopoulos etc. etc. and George Papandreou who was afraid of these internal party conflicts”. This the minister said “is of great historical interest, that in the same year, 2008, a similar constitutional process was developing in the Republic of Cyprus where their own “article 16″ was revised” and added that “now, 16 years later, we are given the opportunity to see calmly and without political objections how each decision taken in each of the two States developed. Until 2018, tens of thousands of Cypriots studied in Greek Universities in Cyprus and no foreign students in Cyprus. In 2024, the Higher Education sector in the Republic of Cyprus is one of the main drivers of the country’s development, far fewer Cypriot students are studying in Greek Universities, on the contrary, many thousands of Greek students are studying in Cypriot Universities and many regions and cities of Cyprus have flourished, have developed through the option that the Republic of Cyprus received at the time and unfortunately Greece did not receive it then and the sole culprit was PASOK”.

Mr. Georgiadis stated that he is proud to be a member of the Government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the ND for this draft law. He praised the Minister of Education Kyriakos Pierrakakis for this legislative initiative but also the personal risk which, as he said, “is the possibility of the rejection of the Law by the CoE” adding that “I do not prejudge any decision of the CoE. This is sovereign and independent, but I am saddened because almost entirely the Opposition prejudges the decision of the CoE, saying that it will be rejected as unconstitutional”.

The minister emphasized that we “politicians should one day go through the endless speeches in practice” as the Minister of Education is doing today and “for that he deserves a lot of praise”

Mr. Georgiadis rejected the criticism of a class bill saying that “this does not affect those who have money and can go abroad and study at the mother University but those who cannot send their child abroad”.

He directed his fire at PASOK-KINAL for choosing to vote against the bill, saying that “it is a real shame that Mr. Androulakis apparently alone decided to change his stance and repeat the history of 2008”. He pointed out that “it is typical that the protagonists who prevented the revision of 2008, Mr. Venizelos, Mr. Loverdos, Ms. Diamantopoulou, today are all in favor of the bill and I say well done to them for that.” PASOK – KINAL, said the minister, with this attitude is exposed “because your party started by saying that it supports Non-Profit-Non-State Universities and one day Mr. Androulakis came, without explaining to anyone why and us he said you would vote against it. What you really did was tragic and someone should tell you the truth.” The minister characterized PASOK-KINAL as a “tragic party, once again” and attributed this turn of PASOK to the fact that “it wants to oppose Kyriakos Mitsotakis, putting the interests of the country behind”.

Parliamentary representative of PASOK

The parliamentary representative of PASOK-KINAL Dimitris Manzos replied to the Minister of Health Adonis Georgiadis that his party “has not made any conversion or change of position. Throughout time we have said two things: “Yes” to the strengthening of the public University first of all and “yes” to the private Non-Profit Universities but with a revision of Article 16 of the Constitution. With this legislative initiative, however, neither of the two is accomplished. And that’s why we say “no”. Regarding Cyprus, Mr. Manzos said that “two years of consultations were needed there as well” but “the Cypriot model is not a good example when it has 72% profit-making foundations, which our country should follow”. Finally, the parliamentary representative of PASOK-KINAL, argued that Mr. Georgiadis “is the first to recognize that there is a risk that this Law will be deemed unconstitutional by the CoE”

The Minister of Health, Adonis Georgiadis, responded to the PASOK-KINAL parliamentary representative that Mr. Pierrakakis himself has said that the unconstitutionality or not of the Law will be decided by the courts in the end, “so he has said what I also said”. He pointed out to him that “great constitutionalists professors Venizelos, Manitakis, Alevizatos, Spyropoulos – who I believe you do not charge them in the ND – have written texts defending the constitutionality of the relevant bill” and clearly added that we will wait “to see the position of the CoE, which does not it is not bound by my opinion or yours or that of the constitutionalists. He has his own opinion and we will see it.” Finally, the minister observed that “in all the statements made by Mr. Androulakis when the new term of the Government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis began and he had referred to the tabling of the specific bill, nowhere did the president of PASOK-KINAL link the specific bill with article 16, that’s why your MPs told Kanalia that they agree and that’s how you were exposed”