The opposition is pressuring the government over OPEKEPE and wiretapping cases

Following PASOK’s proposal last week, SYRIZA and Ne.AR. yesterday submitted a joint proposal to establish a Preliminary Investigation Committee against former Minister of Rural Development, Spilios Livanos, and former Deputy Minister, Fotini Arabatzi.

The proposal is based on the case file of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office concerning OPEKEPE, which states that the two former heads of the Ministry of Rural Development should be investigated for the offense of moral instigation in repeated breach of trust.

The government majority will vote it down, as “there is no evidence,” according to government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis. “We are the governing majority that has accepted the referral of two former ministers, and in other cases where there was not even any evidence, such as the cases of Voridis and Avgenakis, we responded negatively because there was no evidence,” he stated.

An Investigative Committee assigns political responsibility, while a Preliminary Investigation Committee examines criminal responsibility and has the authority to refer cases to court.

PASOK commented that the New Democracy government “is a government immersed in scandals, corruption, and clientelism, treating the state as their personal spoil,” while SYRIZA stated that “the government’s ‘no’ to a Preliminary Investigation Committee for the OPEKEPE ‘blue scandal’ constitutes yet another cover-up operation.”

At the same time, PASOK yesterday submitted a new proposal to establish an Investigative Committee into the wiretapping case, describing it as “a very troubling story about an opaque network of relationships between political and business interests and government influence.”

It is worth noting that following the 2019 constitutional revision, the minority has the ability to initiate the establishment of an Investigative Committee, provided it gathers 10 signatures and at least 120 votes in Parliament. However, this right is limited, as up to two such committees can be formed per parliamentary term, while issues of foreign policy and national defense are excluded.

Sources: Efimerida ton Syntakton [1], [2], [3]