Gov’t credibility rattled
Minister forced to resign for receiving state subsidies, reshuffle speculation grows
. The leftist-led government’s claim to have the moral high ground took a battering yesterday after Alternate Minister for Social Solidarity Rania Antonopoulou was forced to resign following revelations three days ago that she received 23,000 euros in state rent subsidies for an apartment in the upmarket Athens neighborhood of Kolonaki.
In what was seen as a frantic attempt at damage control, sources close to Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said the subsidy for cabinet members who are not lawmakers would be scrapped.
The issue unfolded after an article on Friday in the Eleftheros Typos newspaper revealed that Antonopoulou was receiving 1,000 euros per month from the state as a rent subsidy for her apartment. She received the subsidy legally but there was public outrage that a minister, whose income declarations point to considerable personal wealth, should receive such benefits.
With the coalition’s back against the wall over the ensuing outcry, government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos told Real FM that 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. For her part, 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. The govern- ment announced her resignation later yesterday.
As a result, speculation of a cabinet reshuffle has resurfaced given that Antonopoulou is the second government official to step down after the resignation in January of Deputy Education Minister Costas Zouraris. There have also been reports that Migration Policy Minister Yiannis Mouzalas may be replaced due to health reasons.
Opposition New Democracy chief Kyriakos Mitsotakis denounced the government, saying it took “three whole days of intense reaction” before Tsipras demanded her resignation. He also criticized SYRIZA for passing the law in 2015 that allowed “Antonopoulou and her husband to claim the subsidy while the country was sinking.”