ND, SYRIZA reach compromise on bill designed to halt GD funding
Greece’s conservative-led government and leftist opposition SYRIZA have reached a common position on a bill that aims to halt state funding for parties whose leaders or MPs are charged with serious crimes.
SYRIZA’s parliamentary spokesman Dimitris Papadimoulis said on Thursday that his party will vote for the legislative proposal drafted by Interior Minister Yiannis Michelakis after extensive consultation with the Parliament’s opposition parties.
Both men have said that broad support for the bill is of key political significance.
MP Ilias Kasidiaris of Golden Dawn – which is the real target of the bill – reacted to the news Thursday slamming the proposed legislation as “despicable and illegal” and describing his party as the only enemy of cleptocracy in the political system.
On Wednesday, Greek lawmakers voted by an overwhelming majority to lift the immunity of six Golden Dawn MPs, opening the way for a broadening of a criminal investigation into the ultra-right party.
A total of 246 MPs in the 300-seat Parliament voted in favor of stripping six lawmakers of their parliamentary protection from prosecution.
