Gulf on private universities clear in committee debate

The gulf between the leftist-led coalition and most opposition parties regarding the prospect of a constitutional revision that would allow private universities to operate in Greece was clear on Wednesday during the second day of a committee-level debate in Parliament on the subject. 

Such a change would be the “ultimate reform, an explosive reform in the foundations of statism,” conservative New Democracy’s shadow education minister Niki Kerameus told the panel. “The time has come for our country to stop the state monopoly in the provision of higher education.”

The stance of leftist SYRIZA was clear from the beginning of the debate, with Alternate Foreign Minister Giorgos Katrougalos describing ND’s proposal for reform as “reactionary.” Former alternate education minister Sia Anagnostopoulou said such a reform would amount to “selling off public education.”