Speaking to the television channel OPEN, Kyriazidis began by stressing that he has many children and insisting that people ‘have the feeling that MPs have a parliamentary allowance that covers everything’. He explained that the basic parliamentary salary is €5,000 a month, ‘of which the party keeps €1,000’.

He went on to list his claimed expenses:

‘I have a political office in Drama, meaning I have to pay rent, electricity, heating. Parliament expenses cover my office in Athens, not in Drama. So another thousand is gone and that leaves me with €3,000. I have to pay petrol as I am travelling from Athens to Drama and Thessaloniki. I live in Athens. Shouldn’t I eat? I have €1,800 left. This is a harsh reality. Fortunately, my wife works.’

The remarks have provoked widespread anger in a country where most workers earn around €800–€1,000 a month.

On social media, user Areti Athanasiou commented sarcastically after posting the video segment:

‘Do not be envious or belittle the MPs who get a €5,000 salary. Be happy with €800 or €1,000 a month, because New Democracy MP Dimitris Kyriazidis has a hard time making ends meet on €5,000 and may have to go without food for a few days each month. It’s a very harsh reality, as he puts it.’

According to the transparency platform Vouliwatch, Mr Kyriazidis’s official asset declaration (known in Greece as the Pothen Esches system) lists 20 properties in his name.

It is also worth recalling that Kyriazidis was expelled from New Democracy’s Central Committee after a sexist outburst against Zoe Konstantopoulou, the president of the Course of Freedom party. Addressing her on the floor of Parliament, he told her to ‘go have a child’. Despite this, he was readmitted to the party seven months later.

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