Alternate Minister for Social Solidarity resigns over revelations she took 23,000 euros in rent subsidies
Alternate Minister for Social Solidarity Rania Antonopoulou resigned on Monday afternoon following revelations that she received 23,000 euros in state rent subsidies for an apartment in the chic Athens neighborhood of Kolonaki.
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras thanked Antonopoulou for "three years of signficant contribution" to the government. Sources close to the premier subsequently said that the subsidy for cabinet members who are not MPs would be scrapped.
The reports emerged in an article in Eleftheros Typos which revealed that Antonopoulou was receiving 1,000 euros per month from the state as a rent subsidy for her apartment in Kolonaki.
Government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos told Real FM that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had spoken to Antonopoulou, telling her it was "not right" that she had exploited the subsidy in question and that she had been asked to make a statement on the matter.
The conservative opposition New Democracy called on Antonopoulou to repay the subsidy with interest and to apologize.
Later in the day, Antonopoulou said she had not intended to provoke public sentiment but had been entitled to the subsidy and had applied for it, receiving 23,000 euros over two years. She said she would return the money to state coffers.
