Feminine infighting in parliament

Female members of parliament seem to be in an uproar over the decision of now-independent deputy Rachel Makri and SYRIZA deputy Zoe Kostantopoulou to tenders suits for defamation and damages worth up to 200,000 euros against anyone defaming a woman MP.

This has led to a convention of the parliamentary committee of Equality and Human Rights. According to reports the committee presidium has called all women MPs to an inter-party meeting on Thursday (30 Jan.) to discuss ways of facing the issue of discrimination and verbal abuse against female parliamentarians, because of their sex, from male colleagues, through institutional and political methods, and not by dispensing lawsuits.

According, to parliamentary sources, the ladies in parliament want to dampen the ardor of Ms Kostantopoulou and Ms Makri, as they are against the idea of using lawsuits as means against discrimination. One female deputy was quoted in the press as saying that the ploy by the two just serves to woe voters with money won from such cases, while underscoring that such issues are not resolved through a court process, but through the application of parliament regulations.