Revelations that minister took rent subsidy for Kolonaki home prompt mini gov’t crisis

Revelations that Alternate Labor Minister Rania Antonopoulou received an annual rent subsidy worth 23,000 euros prompted a mini political crisis on Monday.

According to the report in Eleftheros Typos, Antonopoulou was receiving 1,000 euros per month from the state as a rent subsidy for her apartment in the capital's chic neighborhood of Kolonaki.

Commenting on the reports, government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos told Real FM that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had spoken to Antonopoulou, telling her it was "not right" that she had exploited the subsidy in question and that she had been asked to make a statement on the matter.

The conservative opposition New Democracy called on Antonopoulou to repay the subsidy with interest and to apologize. 

Later in the day, Antonopoulou said she had not intended to provoke public sentiment but had been entitled to the subsidy and had applied for it, receiving 23,000 euros over two years. She said she would return the money to state coffers.