A ribbon-cutting ceremony in the middle of the summer tourism season on the Cyclades island of Paros was the latest incident to ignite heated back-and-forth political squabbling this week.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Friday traveled to the popular holiday island for the ceremony and a tour of the new airport. He was due to return to Athens the same day.
A reported change in prime minister’s itinerary followed heated criticism by the opposition that Tsipras would be accompanied by 54 people, mostly government officials, on the visit to Paros. Additionally, charges aired this week, mostly by the main opposition, that the entire group was allegedly booked for three days at a high-end hotel on the eponymous tourist destinations.
Main opposition spokesman Giorgos Koumoutsakos joined the fray by Tweeting a barbed comment over the possibility of a three-day weekend by the government delegation.
In the end, the Greek prime minister and his entourage boarded a special Aegean Airlines charter for the flight to Paros, with a return scheduled in the afternoon.
The entire affair came a day after a rider was attached as an amendment to a draft law allowing for a greater number of people to travel with the Greek president — a wholly ceremonial position — the prime minister and ministers in trips abroad – and to ensure that their stay is at the same venue as the one the VIPs stay at.
As expected, the criticism drew a government reaction, circulated through “sources”, who said that only a “small government delegation would travel and return to Athens the same day.”
The leftist government and the opposition, namely, main opposition New Democracy and socialist PASOK, also traded accusations and counter-accusations as to who was more responsible for the facility’s construction and operation.
