With the vote on the bill for non-state universities, the debate in the Plenary of the Parliament ends this evening.
High tones prevailed in the debate between the government and opposition parties. The passing of the bill will take place by a roll-call vote initiated by SYRIZA and the KKE.
In the preliminary vote, the bill is expected to receive 159 “yes”, namely 158 of the government majority together with the vote of the independent MP Mr. Katsivardas.
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What the political leaders said
Kyriakos Mitsotakis characterized the university bill as a radical cut in Greek education, which, as he said, strengthens the public sector, while with the establishment of non-state institutions, it gives the new generation equal academic opportunities.
At the same time, he emphasized that “the times when some people made a career shouting ‘companies out of Universities have passed forever'”. Universities are here to provide specialized knowledge and connect that knowledge to the labor market,” he stressed.
All opposition parties accused the prime minister of serving friendly interests.
Stefanos Kasselakis launched a scathing accusation against the government, describing it as an “unconstitutional business” that turns universities into supermarkets.
The president of PaSoK – KINAL Nikos Androulakis in his statement pointed out that “we are voting against on principle, we do not trust that you want to strengthen universities, nor do we believe that you have a real plan for non-profit universities”.
The new government-PaSoK confrontation
At the same time, a fight broke out between ND and PaSoK over the revision of article 16 of the Constitution. In particular, Dimitris Manzos, the parliamentary representative of PaSoK, stated that in order for the party to support the revision of article 16 – which enables non-state universities to operate normally – there should be a debate on the content of this article as such his.
In response, the Minister of Education Kyriakos Pierrakakis spoke about the 6th election of the PaSoK and thanked Mr. Manzos as he “discounted the electoral victory of the ND in the 2027 elections”.
“PASOK’s statement that it will not vote for the revision of article 16 in the proposing revision Parliament justifies our choice to move now within the vital constitutional space. Greece cannot afford to wait.” pic.twitter.com/iKSXvkkMGZ
— Kyriakos Pierrakakis (@Pierrakakis) March 8, 2024
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