The protagonist of successive episodes in the Parliament was today, once again, the president of Freedom of Navigation, Zoe Konstantopoulou. Initially he clashed with Liana Kanellithen with – at one time her fellow traveler in SYRIZA – Olga Gerovasili and, finally, with the Minister of Health, Adonis Georgiadis -for the umpteenth time.
In the interim, Mrs. Konstantopoulou had seen the Plenary of the Parliament say “yes” – with a large majority of 238 MPs, who spoke in favor, and only 48 against – to the lifting of her immunity. The president of Plefsis Eleftherias was sued by the former candidate with the party, Olga Dalla, who, although she had emerged first among “crosses” in the elections of May 2023, in the repeats, which followed in June of the same year, she was expelled from the lists, in order to place the actor Spyros Bibilas.
The case of Mrs. Konstantopoulou had been introduced to the Plenary with a negative recommendation from the competent parliamentary Ethics Committee. She, however, asked the deputies to vote in favor of the request as, as she said, she disagrees with the maintenance of parliamentary privileges.
On the contrary, the request to lift Liana Kanelli’s immunity was voted down with 209 “against”, 25 “for” and 50 present. The KKE MP was sued by Zoe Konstantopoulou herself, for defamation. During the preceding discussion, there was an exchange of heavy characterizations between the two women.
Mrs. Kanelli described her accuser as an “anti-communist”, while she argued that she is taking advantage of her legal status for petty political gains. At the same time, he insisted that Mrs. Konstantopoulou, as president of the Parliament in 2015, “turned her back” on Ilias Kasidiaris and the rest of the imprisoned Golden Dawn MPs, in order to get leave from the Korydallos prisons and participate in the work of the Parliament. “Pro bono (non-profit) I undertake the defense of Ms. Konstantopoulou from herself,” he noted, among other things.
On the other hand, Mrs. Konstantopoulou spoke of “vulgar” lies, while supporting her family’s democratic course. He raised the gauntlet of the confrontation, arguing that “Ms. Kanelli made a career under the junta”, while he pointedly commented that “she has a villa in Ekali”.
Episode between Zoi Konstantopoulou and Liana Kanelli in Parliament
Immediately after the announcement of the results of the vote to lift the immunity of Mrs. Konstantopoulou, another round of tension began, this time between the president of Plefsis Eleftheria and the chairwoman of the Plenary at the time, Olgas Gerovassili – the reason was that the first wanted to make one more comment, but the floor had already been given to another member of parliament.
When Mrs. Konstantopoulou finally took the floor, she accused Mrs. Gerovasilis of “wanting a state with Mitsotakis as king and Dora Bakoyannis as queen.”
The opening dialog goes like this:
Konstantopoulou: I ask for the floor.
Gerovasili: You do not have the floor, because I have given it to Mr. Kottidis.
Konstantopoulou: I asked for the floor and I am leading as leader and you know that.
Gerovasili: Yes, but I have announced. Mr. Kottidis is late. Immediately after, you will have the floor, Ms. Konstantopoulou.
Konstantopoulou: I asked for the reason. I asked for the reason. I asked for the reason. This is the second time you’ve done it. I asked for the reason.
Gerovasili: It has never been done by me again. You will take the floor right after.
Konstantopoulou: I asked for the reason. I asked for the reason. I was notified by the services about the announcement.
Gerovasili: There is no commenting process for the announcement.
Konstantopoulou: Aren’t you a little ashamed of what you do? Aren’t you ashamed? You have been in collusion with Mrs. Bakoyannis since last week.
Gerovasili: You understand that I am not going to answer you, because my position does not allow it.
Konstantopoulou: Your position is to resign.
Gerovasili: You have resigned from parties.
Konstantopoulou: No, you are wrong and your comments in this way are unethical and impermissible.
Gerovasili: You will have the floor when it is your turn.
The confrontation between Konstantopoulou and Gerovasilis
At that point, Pavlos Polakis intervened, commenting with irony: “The other guy across the street is laughing”, meaning Adonis Georgiadis. The Minister of Development replied, smiling: “Well, with what I see, what should I do? Shouldn’t I laugh?” Zoe Konstantopoulou came back, addressing Olga Gerovasili, saying: “You are a crutch, Mrs. Gerovasili.”
The Gerovasilis-Konstantopoulos feud continued immediately after the speech of MP Kottidis, with the dialogue between the two extending to the recent episode that developed at the Conference of Presidents, when the president of Pleysis Eleftherias took out her mobile phone to record Dora Bakoyannis and the ND MP called her “hysterical”.
“Some are bothered by Freedom Sailing. The restriction of the speech of the political leaders of the opposition was routed. We know that no one will restrict the prime minister or the ministers. In this unholy alliance we saw the strange partnership of Gerovasilis with Bakoyannis, who has said that the Parliament is a small shop. I had asked the floor before, from Mr. Georgantas. The only one who didn’t know it was the president, who went as far as denying a political leader the floor. You want a state with Mitsotakis as king and Dora Bakoyannis as queen,” continued the president of Plevsis Eleftherias, without… stepping on the brakes.
When everything seemed to… have ended – temporarily, at least – Adonis Georgiadis took the floor, as earlier the president of the Freedom Movement called him a Goebbels praiser, a denier of the genocide of the Jews, a fascist, etc. The Minister of Health called Zoe Konstantopoulou “a terrible creature”, “the most hysterical existence” and “the most evil woman”.
“I see Mrs. Konstantopoulou leaving the room. She always leaves me, because I don’t like her. If she calls me a Goebbels fan again, I will sue her,” he said initially, before adding: “Konstantopoulou is literally raping the Parliament. It’s the worst thing she’s ever been through. On the day she lost the position of Speaker of the Parliament, the employees of the Parliament danced outside with music, because they were saved from the tyrant.”
The positioning of Adonis Georgiadis
Commenting on Ms. Konstantopoulou’s stance on the lifting of her immunity, he said “since she genuinely wanted to lift the immunity, if it is assumed that I actually gave a line, is that a reason to scold me or to praise me? Come on, deal with the most hideous creature, the most hysterical being, the most evil woman.”
And the minister continued in high tones: “This woman has dragged society into this toxicity. She is the only one who has insulted the dead of Tempe. The train drivers. For one, he said that he is a smuggler and a volunteer of Mitsotakis. He did not think of living parents. And after the gallows fell, he couldn’t find an apology to say to the living parents…”
“Ms. Konstantopoulou is not doing any fighting. It does work” concluded Mr. Georgiadis.