Polakis kicked out of parliamentary group after a broadside too many
It was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. Controversial MP and ex-minister Pavlos Polakis, notorious for his attacks on friend and foe alike, has behaved much worse than he did Thursday during a session of the Parliamentary Committee on Social Affairs. But what he did was enough to make SYRIZA leader Stefanos Kasselakis exclude him from the main opposition party’s parliamentary group, shortly before it met to discuss group issues.
This time, Polakis accused a lawyer, an aide to Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis, of acting disrespectfully. “Don’t make faces, madam. Yes, I’m talking to you, you are wearing a permanent, I wouldn’t say smile, but a dismissive twisting of the mouth. Don’t do that. You’ve done it before and it gets on my nerves,” Polakis said.
MPs from all political parties came to the defense of the woman under attack. SYRIZA MP Athina Linou, apologized in tears.
“I want to personally apologize to the colleague for the sort of violence she was subjected to and I think we should not allow such behavior,” Linou said.
SYRIZA leader Stefanos Kasselakis, alerted about the incident, asked to see the video recording and, having seen it, decided to exclude Polakis from the party’s parliamentary group. Polakis will henceforth sit as an independent.
Parliament Speaker Kostas Tasoulas strongly berated Polakis for his “disgusting” behavior and announced in the plenary session that he would dock him half a month’s salary.
Polakis was unrepentant, saying that Linou should have minded her business. He then tried to join the parliamentary group meeting but group leader Sokratis Famellos told him he had no place being there.
