Athens, 27 October 2016
Evangelos Venizelos made the following statement answering questions regarding the information about the decision of the Plenary of the Council of State on the unconstitutionality of the statute regarding the television licenses and the government’s response to it:
The response of the government to the journalists’ information on the outcome of the Council of State’s meeting was institutionally shameful, overbearingly stubborn and politically suicidal.
Τhe statement read by the Government Spokesperson in a "revolutionary" way constitutes an official announcement of the violation of the Constitution.
Mr. Tsipras thought that he could bypass the decision of the Council of State with a newer statute and infringe the Constitution. He ought to wait for the publication of the decision, he ought to read it carefully and to fully abide to it, as provided by art. 95 of the Constitution.
The government that signed the third memorandum and begs for a fourth one accuses the Council of State for finding the memorandum constitutional!
The government that passionately defended PSI at the European Court of Human Rights, the government that “bows” before PSI in the draft budget bill of 2017, that begs for minor supplementary measures of PSI in order to present them as a success, accuses the Council of State for judging that the 2012 debt haircut was constitutional and for not allowing Greece’s disorderly default.
The government that caused tens of billions of euros damage to the economy, pretends to weep for the 85 million of the highest bidders, when a legal auction can be much more profitable.
There should be a limit to the contradictions, the lies and the self-humiliation.
The road chosen by the government leads to an open institutional crisis and to a new gambling with the economy and the position of the country within the Eurozone. It constitutes a dangerous and unhesitating team that does neither respect the legal order nor the national interest.
For anyone having even an elementary idea of the national and European legal order, the unconstitutionalities of the so called “Pappas statute” were blatant and incurable.
The Council of State safeguarded its institutional role, its tradition and the continuity of its jurisprudence; with this decision it said what is self-evident. All those that attempted to influence it in a vulgar way, made a dramatic mistake.
Since I had accurately predicted these changes, now I should express clearly my prediction for what follows next. The government will hastily continue this institutional downturn without any constitutional, economic or national limit. I do not overdramatize. I just make an observation.
It is the personal and collective responsibility of all the citizens who believe in democracy, the rule of law and the stability of our country to react in the name of the Constitution.
