For her deletion of Marios Salma from the ND and for today Four-four of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoganthe Minister of State spoke Akis Schertsoswho was hosted by SKAI.

“Salma’s deletion is clearly an autonomous move and concerns a criticism that went beyond the pale. What the government and ND are saying is that we obviously want good faith and constructive criticism, we are not declaring that we are infallible or that we know everything. On the contrary, Mr. Salmas proceeded with slanderous complaints. In a rule of law, if you say I’m a thief, you have to prove it,” Mr. Skertsos initially pointed out, adding:

“Mr. Salmas made a political and parliamentary complaint about photo contests in the canteens of the archaeological sites, he was fully answered by Lina Mendoni 3 months ago and yet he came back without his own evidence. That’s why we talked about mud. This cannot be tolerated by the government which holds high the banner of transparency and legality everywhere. In our case we are talking about 59 archaeological sites. Do you know how many canteens are open? To very few. So the Ministry of Culture, in order to strengthen our tourism product, grouped the sites and issued a competition for everyone. Therefore, it is not true that a direct assignment was made, after all, appeals have been made for the tenders and the ministry has been vindicated by the Court 6-7 times”.

Regarding the reports about “many-few”, the Minister of State repeated that “ND is a popular party and not a populist one, because it belongs to the many. It is a patriotic, liberal and reformist party. When ERGANI announces that 500,000 new jobs have been added, is this something that serves the many or the few? When 37,500 permanent teachers have been added to the public education system, is that with the many or the few?’

“We will not trade in patriotism – Unreasonably delayed with cameras”

For today’s critical Mitsotakis-Erdogan meeting in New York, Akis Skertsos noted that the channels of communication with Turkey at the diplomatic level have now been opened.

“It is very good to discuss, because this brings calm, so that we can move forward without changing anything from our fixed positions. The positives of this agenda are zero violations for a year and a half, which means better control of migration flows. I also remind you of the very good tourist relations that have developed in the islands of the NE Aegean thanks to the special visa that we have established. We are not going to trade in patriotism.”

In closing, he admitted that the government has delayed unreasonably on the issue of cameras. “It’s not just about road safety, it’s a very important tool for better policing and tackling crime. The reason it has been delayed is the multi-division of responsibilities and tender procedures. Now with central assignment and planning by the Ministry of Digital Governance, a control system will be made. I think within the next month the new framework will be presented and by 2025 they will have been installed, bringing results”.