Opposition chief slams gov’t for delay in ousting Antonopoulou
The head of the main opposition party, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has criticized the government for failing to call for the resignation of Alternate Social Solidarity Minister Rania Antonopoulou sooner, in the wake of revelations that the leftist official had been receiving state rent subsidies for an apartment in one of Athens's most expensive neighborhoods.
“Three whole days of intense reaction had to pass before [Prime Minister Alexis] Mr Tsipras expressed his annoyance at and then demanded the resignation of Mrs Antonopoulou,” the conservative leader told lawmakers in Parliament on Monday, shortly after the official announced that she was stepping down.
“The fact is that SYRIZA passed the law that allowed Mrs Antonopoulou and her husband to claim the subsidy,” Mitsotakis said, referring to the ruling leftist party. “And it was not some automatic process. Mrs Antonopoulou had to apply every month. The regulation was passed in 2015 and while the country was sinking, Mrs Antonopoulou was claiming a subsidy.”
According to reports in Eleftheros Typos, Antonopoulou had received 23,000 euros over two years.
