SYRIZA, ND clash over calls for debate on Baltakos affair

Leftist SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras on Monday wrote to Parliament speaker Evangelos Meimarakis to demand that the House discuss the case of former cabinet secretary Panayiotis Baltakos (photo), who resigned early this month after a leaked video showed him discussing a judicial probe into the ultra-right Golden Dawn with the party’s spokesman Ilias Kasidiaris.

Tsipras noted that 25 days have passed and there has been no attempt to satisfy SYRIZA’s request even though parliamentary rules dictate that a debate should be carried out within a month.

Accusing the government of “provocative and anti-democratic behavior,” he called on Meimarakis to set a date for a discussion before Parliament goes into recess next Friday ahead of local and European elections.

Government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou remarked that there has already been “a broad-ranging public dialogue on the issue” and that the government has clarified its stance.