The proposal to set up a Parliamentary Examination Committee to probe into the events that led to Greece signing the third bailout agreement (memorandum) with creditors failed to collect the 120 votes for the inquiry to begin. The proposal by the main opposition conservative New Democracy Party was aimed at examining all that had led to the imposition of capital controls, however, the majority of MPs on Tuesday voted against the motion with 155 votes opposed, 96 votes in favor and 20 votes present.
The proposal was mainly rejected by the Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) ruling party and its junior coalition member, right-wing Independent Greeks (ANEL) as well as the Union of Centrists. The motion was supported by ND, the Democratic Alliance and centrist Potami MPs, as well as two independent MPs — Haris Theoharis and Leonidas Grigorakos. The Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and Golden Dawn both abstained, voting “present.”
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras did not address the plenum in the debate leading to the vote as is customary. Instead, Government Vice President Yiannis Dragasakis took the podium, noting that the motion for an inquiry was a tactical move by the conservative ND party. He said that the battles that had begun in 2015 were still continuing and pointed to “economic strangulation” and “open blackmail” against Greece that the main opposition had assisted.
Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos dismissed the ND arguments for a probe and accused his political opponents of trying to disorient public opinion. “I am more ready to believe that [ND leader] Kyriakos Mitsotakis is a political prisoner than that Greece’s debt, if SYRIZA had not been in government, would not have been 300 billion euros but 200 billion-odd,” Tsakalotos said, in response to the main opposition’s claim that the tactics adopted in the first half of 2015 led to economic damages of 86-100 billion euros.
Tsakalotos cited an International Monetary Fund (IMF) report to prove that previous governments were to blame for the country’s dire straits as a result of their failure to recapitalize banks and address the problems of non-performing loans.
Alternate Finance Minister George Chouliarakis, a central figure in the Greek government’s negotiations with creditors, told Parliament that negotiations had not been based on Grexit threats but “on restoring an atmosphere of trust, creating alliances and exploiting the contradictions in the Eurozone.” He did not place himself against an investigation on the reasons as to why Greece was led to economic disaster from 2010 until the present but stated that this should take place “away from the public spotlight” as exemplified in the UK’s inquiry on the war in Iraq. Chouliarakis said that flawed ND planning had failed to prepare the country for an exit from bailouts.
Mitsotakis’ Outburst
ND leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis accused Tsipras of ducking the debate by not addressing the plenary. He accused the government of fearing the truth and promised that the “examining committee will be set up in the next Parliament” even if it were not voted on at this plenum. He then cast the spotlight on the role played by former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis suggesting that the plan may have been a Grexit. “Perhaps Plan B was in fact Plan A and averted at the last minute after Tsipras got scared and gave the creditors everything? That is what Varoufakis charges. There is no Varoufakis issue. There is a Tsipras issue and Tsipras can no longer hide behind Varoufakis,” said Mitsotakis.
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