Rena Dourou, chair of SYRIZA’s parliamentary group, said that ‘yesterday’s dismissal of Ambassador Guilfoyle by US President Trump exposes the New Democracy government on multiple fronts’.
She argued that the government was ‘seriously exposed’ because Guilfoyle had been removed not following a formal Greek protest over her ‘unacceptable, anti-democratic statements’, but because the US State Department was troubled by allegations of bribery reported in the American media.
Dourou stressed that the Greek government had ‘never reacted’ to Guilfoyle’s conduct, recalling remarks in which ‘Greeks are dogs’ had allegedly been stated.
She argued that the government had been ‘weighed and found wanting’ in its duty to defend national sovereignty, sovereign rights and the interests of the Greek people.
She also accused the government of aligning itself with the ambassador’s initiatives, advancing US policies and interests in cooperation with specific Greek business groups, and taking critical decisions without informing parliament or providing safeguards for the public interest.
‘The problem is not one person. It is structural. It concerns the conduct of foreign policy’, she concluded.
Responding on behalf of New Democracy, parliamentary spokesperson Stratos Simopoulos defended Guilfoyle’s work, arguing that ‘the ambassador worked for the Vertical Corridor, which, along with hydrocarbon extraction, benefits our country’.
He maintained that the Vertical Corridor strengthened Greece’s geopolitical position and insisted that ‘our relations with the US do not depend on ambassadors or foreign ministers’.
PASOK parliamentary spokesperson Dimitris Mantzos accused Simopoulos of ‘defending’ Guilfoyle’s record.
He argued that the US ambassador’s removal raised ‘more serious questions’, including issues directly affecting Greece.
‘These issues concern both the embassy’s role and the threats of interference in domestic affairs, as well as the transactional diplomacy that was pursued, particularly in the energy sector. The Greek government must provide answers’, he said.
Mantzos also warned that ‘the country is being reduced to a theatre of economic and business dealings’, adding that he did not expect New Democracy’s parliamentary spokesperson to defend ‘Guilfoyle’s record’.
Yiannis Delis, an MP for the Greek Communist Party (KKE), argued that ‘the removal of US ambassador to Greece Guilfoyle by the Trump administration is apparently linked to internal rivalries within the American bourgeoisie, which extend all the way here’.
He said these rivalries centred on ‘the large, very large contracts of energy groups’ and were reflected in foreign media reports, rejecting the suggestion that Guilfoyle’s removal was motivated by ‘considerations of diplomatic etiquette’.
Delis added that the decision ‘irreparably exposes’ the New Democracy government, which ‘began praising her even before she took office’, as well as ‘all the other parties of the Euro-Atlantic camp’, whose officials had rushed to present their credentials to Guilfoyle.
‘No matter who heads the American embassy, what never changes is American policy’, he concluded.
Finally, Alexandros Kazamias, parliamentary spokesperson for Course of Freedom, accused the government of ‘protecting’ Guilfoyle.
‘The only one that made no move to have Ms Guilfoyle leave Greece was the New Democracy government’, he said, referring to earlier parliamentary questions addressed to Energy Minister Papastavrou and statements by government spokesperson Marinakis.
‘It was known what she was doing. It was known that she was blackmailing. The reports that have now come to light refer to meetings in January and March. You knew all this and kept quiet, and the government did nothing to control Ms Guilfoyle’s activities and behaviour’, he concluded.
______________________________________________
Are you seeking news from Greece presented from a progressive, non-mainstream perspective? Subscribe monthly or annually to support TPP International in delivering independent reporting in English. Don’t let Greek progressive voices fade.
Make sure to reference “TPP International” and your order number as the reason for payment.