At the center of the political storm is Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, with mounting speculation over whether he will resort to procedural tactics to keep New Democracy MPs from participating in the vote — a move that could effectively shield former ministers from criminal investigation.
The day before, the parliamentary debate on forming a fact-finding committee saw Mitsotakis come under heavy fire from opposition parties. Critics accused him of evasiveness and an urgent desire to bury the matter, despite public outcry for accountability.
Opposition leaders across the political spectrum denounced what they called a deliberate effort to obstruct justice. PASOK leader Nikos Androulakis accused Mitsotakis of “institutional arrogance” and “hypocrisy,” noting that while the Prime Minister now promotes a mild, retrospective investigation into decades-old dysfunction, he had previously dismissed such committees as ineffective and inconclusive. Androulakis claimed that the government is attempting to retroactively shift blame to past administrations, conveniently diluting the political impact of recent revelations involving figures closely tied to New Democracy.
The scandal came to light through a European Prosecutor’s investigation, which reportedly includes thousands of pages of evidence pointing to coordinated misuse of EU funds between 2019 and 2022 — precisely during Mitsotakis’ first term in office. Despite this, the Prime Minister insisted in Parliament that the issue does not warrant criminal scrutiny at this stage and refused to endorse a preliminary investigation with prosecutorial powers.
Androulakis charged that the government’s true motive is to block a judicial path that could lead to formal charges. He pointed to specific officials allegedly involved, including current and former ministers, and accused Mitsotakis of overseeing what he called a “blue criminal ring” — a reference to New Democracy’s political color. “You’re not just avoiding justice,” Androulakis told the Prime Minister, “you’re afraid of it. You know that some of your own MPs may vote according to their conscience — and that terrifies you.”
The criticism was echoed by SYRIZA’s parliamentary leader Sokratis Famellos, who condemned the government’s approach as a “textbook case of political shielding.” He insisted that the facts contained in the European case file leave no doubt that crimes were committed — and that the attempt to replace a criminal investigation with a limited parliamentary review is a cynical maneuver to protect senior figures from prosecution.
Perhaps the most explosive intervention came from Zoe Konstantopoulou, former speaker of Parliament and leader of the left-wing party Plefsi Eleftherias. In a combative speech, she accused Mitsotakis of acting as “the head of a criminal organization” and said the government was trying to manipulate both the legal and legislative systems to ensure impunity. She vowed to support the formation of a preliminary inquiry committee and said her party would demand that the Prime Minister himself testify.
