Kotzias resigns from Foreign Ministry

When the quarrel broke out in the Cabinet between Mr Panos Kammenos and Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias, the fate of the second was preordained.

Alexis Tsipras obviously took the side of Panos Kammenos, very simply to prevent the government from falling. Even more so, since on the day before the ministerial meeting, the Prime Minister's meeting with his government partner, at the Athens Officers' Club, the agreement of the two had been renewed so that the government would not fall before March.

The fight between Panos Kammenos and Nikos Kotzias took on personal characteristics, as the Minister of Defense impied mismanagement of the secret funds of the Foreign Ministry and the role of Soros in FYROM in favor of the Prespa Agreement, with Nikos Kotzias going on the counteroffensive and demanding fiscal oversight of the Ministry of Defense secret  funds. It was obvious that Alexis Tsipras could not take a position in favor of the Foreign Minister. What was at stake was the fall of the government.

That was what exasperated Nikos Kotzias, who is, in any event, considered an explosive character, and from that moment he began to consider the possibility of resignation. He considered that the Prime Minister had let him go, since he kept equal distances from the two ministers, and did not even cover him when Panos Kammenos implied issues that affronted Kotzias' personal dignity about secret funds.

Indicative of the intentions of Nikos Kotzias was his move to visit the President of the Republic. He sent a message to the PM's office about his intentions. Kotzias' detractors say he wanted to ask Maximum to stay. This not only did not happen, but on Wednesday morning Dimitris Tzanakopoulos gave an indication of where things were going. When the government spokesman appeared on  Alpha TV and said "the government train is progressing, it has a clear direction and will reach its destination. Anyone who does not want to reach this destination or is having trouble making the trip can step down. This will in no way affect the Greek government "... the case had been decided.

The government almost forced Nikos Kotzias to leave. Some information suggests that this was demanded by Panos Kammenos. When, in response to the statements by Tzanakopoulos, Nikos Kotzias leaked information about Panos Kammenos, suggesting that there was a problem with managing the secret funds of the Ministry of Defense, it was only a matter of hours before he left the government.

Before his resignation, Kotzias wanted the first vote in the FYROM parliament  to be held, and a meeting of the members of the "Pratto" group (a political group within SYRIZA). However, developments overtook his wishes. Following the dimensions that his confrontation with the government partner took, the fact that the PM not only did not support him but caused him more than enough discomfort his resignation was the only way.

Nikos Kotzias with a tweet on his personal account let loose barbs against the prime minister and the ministers who took Panou Kammenos' side against him. Specifically he wrote "The moment has come, the poet says, to decide whom you leave and with whom you'll side. The PM and a number of Ministers made their choices yesterday and I followed my own. It is good to remember, however, the verse: to deeply bury me they wanted, they forgot that I am a seed."