Submarine battle in Parliament
- Written by E.Tsiliopoulos
The discussion in parliament on a proposal tendered by main opposition SYRIZA for a committee of inquiry on the issue of the submarines for the Hellenic Navy has caused sparks to fly.
SYRIZA speaker Thodoris Dritsas focused his address on the law passed in 2010 when Evangelos Venizelos was defense minister which as he said was not beneficial for public interest since it neither saved the shipyards, nor did it produce offsets expected.
Mr Dritsas retorted to criticism that SYRIZA was trying to dismantle PASOK by saying that the main opposition was not scrutinizing the president of PASOK but the minister responsible at that time.
On the part of the government, Mr. Kostas Tasoulas from New Democracy accused SYRIZA of using the proposal to serve political purposes and nothing more, while PASOK deputy Panayotis Rigas accused the main opposition of constructing hypotheses from hear say from jailed felons and and persons who switched parties going over to SYRIZA.
However, both government deputies left innuendos about the benefits of the law promulgated in 2010.
SYRIZA is trying to corner the government coalition parties on two counts. One will be the “revelations” with which Evangelos Venizelos has threatened SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras and the other has to do with the coverage the Prime Minister will provide the leader of PASOK.
The dilemma for the premier will be how much he will cover the leader of PASOK as significant party cadres had stigmatized the deal when it was promulgated back in 2010, calling it a scandal.
According to a study of the issue put together by SYRIZA deputy Thodoris Dritsas the state has lost over 260 million euros on the non completion of the offset agreements not including VAT and tax in arrears, as well as wages lost for workers at the Hellenic Shipyards at Skaramangas.
The issue is expected to cause heavy turbulence in parliament, as SYRIZA will tender queries on the real ownership of the shipyards, while it will also ask to review a letter sent by Mr Venizelos to his successor Mr Avramopoulos in December 2011, in retort to an earlier missive from the latter when Mr Venizelos was defense minister.
