PASOK leader decries social services failure, media coverage of child pimping case that has rocked Greece

Centre-left PASOK-KINAL leader said the fact that competent Greek social services have failed is demonstrated by the case of the rape and pimping of a 12-year-old girl in the Kolonos suburb of Athens, which has rocked the country, and a host of child abuse cases that have drawn media attention in recent weeks and months.

Androulakis’ expressed his sorrow and anger over the way the Greek media and certain political parties have presented and exploited the shocking Kolonos case.

“The former [the media] exploit such cases as communications tools, going as far as to [illegally] quote excerpts of the statements of the under-aged girl and the child psychologist [who interviewed her in the context of the police investigation]. This shows the degradation of the quality of journalism, of public speech, and of public behaviour,” he said today at the Olympia Forum III, an event dedicated to empowering cities and achieving regional development.

Androulakis also suggested that other political parties, which he did not name, are exploiting the child rape and pimping case for petty partisan gain.

He was apparently alluding to a remark in Parliament by a SYRIZA MP, actress Anna Vagena, who asked ND MP Maximos Harakopoulos how he felt being a member of a party of pederasts, because the man pimping the girl, Elias Michos, was an ND party member who was expelled after the scandal broke.

Under pressure from her party, Vagena called the ruling party MP to apologise.

“Is it even conceivable for this crime to be used as an instrument for some people to play their political game?” Androulakis asked rhetorically.

Toxic climate

The centre-left party leader maintained that the case has created a “toxic climate” with unfounded mutual recriminations between parties.

“On the one hand [SYRIZA] there are references to ND as a party of pederasts, while on the other hand its [ND’s] MPs alleged that PASOK did not vote for related criminal code provisions [imposing harsher penalties for the sexual abuse and rape of children],” he said.

Androulakis said that there must be a common front against such phenomena and that social services must be bolstered so that these heinous crimes can be prevented, as is the case throughout Europe.

Surveillance of Androulakis a ‘blot’ on ND

Androulakis said that his having been surveilled by the National Intelligence Service [which operates under the direct authority of the PM’s office] is a blot on New Democracy and bears the stamp [approval] of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

He expressed the hope that when the competent EU authority, PEGA, visits Athens in the context of its probe of the Greek spying affair, it will seek to speak to competent officials that the government did not allow to testify and tell all they know.

Androulakis non-committal on participation in coalition government

As for the timing of general elections and PASOK-KINAL’s prospective participation in a coalition government, which in all likelihood it will be unable to avoid, Androulakis said his objective is for a different [than that of ND and SYRIZA] political agenda to be rewarded, for the benefit of citizens.

“We have a different [political] culture from the rest of the parties. If the people place their trust in us, coalitions like that between SYRIZA and the Independent Greeks [the right-wing populist party that was in the ruling coalition government throughout left-wing party’s four-and-a-half years in power] will be a thing of the past,” Androulakis said.