Giorgos Florides responded with harsh language to Zoe Konstantopoulou, accusing her of challenging her and raising tensions in Parliament.
In a particularly charged atmosphere and with intense personal confrontation, the session of the Parliament, where Minister of Justice George Florides was at the centre of a heavy clash with Zoe Konstantopoulou, due to interventions and placements during the debate. Florides reacted in high tones against the Leadership of Freedom chairwoman’s stance, attributing political provocation and aggressive rhetoric to her, which triggered a new round of tension in the parliament. The confrontation evolved into a head-on political and personal clash, with insults on both sides that raised the temperature of the debate sharply.
Specifically, the debate between George Florides and Nikos Androulakis in Parliament on the establishment of a preliminary investigation committee for Spilios Livanos and Fotini Arampatzi, in the context of the OPEKEPE case, took on the character of a broader confrontation on the wiretapping. The clash between the Minister of Justice and Zoe Konstantopoulou had a more personal tone.
The confrontation began after the PASOK president spoke, referring to his dialogue with the commander of the National Security Service Themistocles Demiris at the Institutions and Transparency Committee, while the Minister of Justice retorted in high tones.
Personal confrontation between Florides and Konstantopoulou
However, the confrontation ran red between Florides and the president of the Eleftherias party, who intervened during the Justice Minister’s response to Mr. Androulakis.
“Aren’t you a little ashamed?” shouted Ms Konstantopoulou from the benches, with Mr Florides responding: “I said it yesterday and I repeat it today: You are asking me to help you, I cannot help you, I am a lawyer, I have no scientific training to help you. I don’t want to deal with you for reasons of political aesthetics and for reasons of aesthetics in general.”
“Mr Florides, I don’t know what kind of lawyer you are, but you are helping me as a lawyer with your attitude, because you are proving that you not only undertook the cover-up of the OPEKEPE crime, but you are committed to the cover-up,” the president of the Electoral Freedom Party said.
With a scene from the Greek film “Wake up Vassilis”, written by Dimitris Psathas, starring George Konstantinou who was found in a mental hospital, the Justice Minister replied. “Mrs. Konstantopoulou, there is a comedy with George Konstantinou, who has been put on a bench. You give me the impression that you are getting dangerously close to it.”
“I asked him: what are the reasons and where are they recorded? And he replied that he doesn’t know the reasons and there is no record. What are you getting at, Mr. Floridi?” Androulakis said, accusing the government of “mud, denigration, insinuations and personal attacks” in the wiretapping case.
Mr. Androulakis also accused House Speaker Nikitas Kaklamanis of “insolence” over his criticism of him for violating the confidentiality of the debate, claiming that in 2022, when the commander of the NIS testified before the committee, ND MP Kostas Karagounis had revealed a dialogue.
“Does the truth from the NIS commander threaten security, but does it not threaten it that people have intercepted material from four armed forces chiefs and you did nothing?”
