‘In such votes, it is not customary to raise the issue of party discipline. It will not be raised in this vote either, to be clear. Beyond that, I must point out that the MPs themselves have requested the lifting of their immunity, not because they believe they are guilty, but because they believe in their innocence and want to prove it,’ he said during the briefing for political editors.
He also said that ‘it is not our job to convict or acquit someone. It is the job of Justice, but certainly, in terms of communication, what we expected to come, from the many selective leaks of so many months, has nothing to do with what finally came. What will be done and what will not be done will be decided by Justice alone. And because I also read some analyses that I do not think have anything to do with the attitude of the MPs, what the MPs will do will be judged by themselves, as the Constitution and their role and their conscience dictate.’
He added: ‘Some people say, interpreting statements, that the lifting of some immunities will be voted on, while others will not be voted on. I think this also creates some problems. In other words, if you don’t vote to lift the immunity of some MPs and you vote to lift the immunity of some other MPs, it is as if you consider some innocent and some guilty, in any case.’
He further said that ‘MPs are the representatives of Greek citizens and they have the first and last word’, but observed that ‘what the MPs themselves have requested must be respected, namely the lifting of their immunity so that they can prove their innocence’.
Asked about the resignation of Makarios Lazaridis, Marinakis described it as an ‘inevitable’ development and added that ‘it is good that this whole process of personal attacks stops’.
‘When a person is under such pressure, he is led to resign. I believe that any further attack offers nothing. It is the easiest thing for someone to do, I would say. I think that the resignation, which was his own decision, was, given the way things turned out in the end, an inevitable development. For what reason? Not for the substance of the matter, which I do not underestimate, but for the communication management, which was carried out by him under the pressure of all these questions,’ Marinakis said, recalling that ‘the matter in question dates back around 20 years’. ‘Today, Mr Lazaridis’ replacement, Mr Kavvadas, was also announced and we are moving forward,’ he added.
The government spokesperson was also asked to comment on Lazaridis’ reposting of a social media post containing disparaging references to Dora Bakoyannis.
‘The specific sharing of this post was extremely unfortunate, a wrong move. It was clearly and automatically taken down from Mr Lazaridis’ profile, because otherwise there would have been a further issue. Okay, I think that all of this happened due to the pressure of those hours and days. He understood it himself and withdrew this sharing, reposting, in any case, as you rightly said. I don’t think we even need to comment on whether it is logical or permissible, at the level of internal party order and respect, to target people like Ms Bakoyannis or anyone else with such a political path, and even with these characterisations.’
He added that ‘the matter is considered closed and the fact that Mr Lazaridis himself withdrew this post is acknowledged’.
He finally reiterated that ‘the elections will be held in 2027’.
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