HANDOUT – Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (3rd from left) and his government survive the no-trust vote. Photo: Petros Giannakouris/AP/dpa
156 MPs in the 300-seat Greek parliament voted in favor of Mitsotakis, according to the parliamentary presidency. Alexis Tsipras, head of the left-wing Syriza, had requested the vote of no confidence.
The focus was on a wiretapping scandal that had been simmering for months: Between 2020 and 2022, the Greek secret service EYP bugged the phones and cell phones of opposition politicians, ministers and high-ranking military officials as well as journalists. This was announced by the responsible data protection authority ADAE at the beginning of the week at the request of Tsipras.
Mitsotakis said he knew nothing about it. “The judiciary will clarify the case,” he said. In view of the upcoming parliamentary elections, Tsipras is trying to start a political mud fight, said Mitsotakis. “You lie for six months,” Tsipras said of Mitsotakis. He recalled that in the wake of the revelations, the secretary-general of the government office, Mitsotakis’ nephew Grigoris Dimitriadis, who was in charge of intelligence, had to resign. “They (Mitsotakis) are cowardly to hide behind their nephew,” Tsipras said.
According to analysts, the vote of no confidence was a kind of prelude to the parliamentary elections in Greece. They must take place by mid-July at the latest. Mitsotakis is believed to be planning to bring her forward in April. All polls give his party a lead of around seven percentage points over Tsiras’ Syriza.
(SDA)