Constantopoulou defends cost of debt committee, says she cut Parl’t budget

The six months over which Parliament's "debt truth" committee convened cost 112,000 euros, according to figures made public on Friday by outgoing House Speaker Zoe Constantopoulou.

Addressing a press conference that rounded off the work of the committee, which was her initiative, Constantopoulou noted that members of the panel "did not accept even a euro in payment" for their work over that time.

Referring to the foreign economists who participated in the committee's research, Constantopoulou took a clear swipe at Greece's international creditors whose envoys are wont to visit the capital for audits. "All those people…left their homes, their families, their daily lives, in order to assist the county, not to stay in luxury hotels and eat and drink and lecture ministers on taking measures against citizens," she said.

The only costs incurred by the committee, she said, were transport and accommodation for visiting experts, food for "certain people" and translation support.

Constantopoulou said the committee would continue its work "even if some try to kill it."

She added that Parliament's budget from January to September, when she was House speaker, was 12.5 million euros less than the same period last year.