ND slams SYRIZA’s ‘devastating’ proposals on constitutional review
Greece’s conservative opposition leader on Thursday slammed SYRIZA’s “devastating” proposals on constitutional review while criticizing the ruling leftists of failing to come up with any meaningful measures to improve the country’s education, justice, environment and public administration.
“Despite our efforts to create a climate of understanding, the government turned down all of New Democracy’s proposals,” Mitsotakis told lawmakers ahead of a vote on constitutional review.
“I do not feel sorry for you,” Mitsotakis said in reference to Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. “I feel sorry for the country and the future of young Greeks. This debate will go down in history as a major lost opportunity,” he said.
Mitsotakis also accused the government of seeking to narrow the scope of the next Parliament as to the direction and content of the revised constitutional provisions.
Lawmakers will later on Thursday vote on a total of 32 proposals presented by SYRIZA, 4 presented by ND and 7 from individual MPs, all of which had garnered a minimum of 151 votes.
Tsipras in his address defended SYRIZA’s proposals, while accusing the conservative opposition of trying to undermine constructive dialogue.
“The political system that was in power for 40 years had many opportunities to reform the Constitution but did not find the courage to do so. And when it did, [the process] resulted in reforms such as the law on ministerial responsibility which we should all be ashamed of,” Tsipras said.
