Elena Akrita's questions to the Minister of Culture, Lina Mendoni:
Madam Minister of Culture, I read an interesting post here on Transparency about the hiring of the artistic director of our National Theatre, Dimitris Lignadis. I say ‘our theatre’ because we the taxpayers maintain the National, in case you missed it.
Let's go over this for a moment.
1. Are you aware, Mrs Mendoni, that Mr.Lignadis has hired his brother, the philologist and teacher Yannis Lignadis, at the National Theatre?;
2. Do you know that this is what is colloquially called ‘nepotism’?;
3. Did you know that - even if a relative of ours is qualified for a job - obvious reasons of principle require us to bypass him or her?;
4. Are you aware that he has not been hired as a philologist? but as an actor?; Which is not?;
5. Do you know if Yannis Lignadis - otherwise a renowned philologist and professor at the National Theatre and Art Schools - has performed in any of the National Theatre's shows?;
6. Do you know whether the director of the National (and any employer for that matter) is legal to hire an employee by stating in the employment contract a false status of the recruit?;
7. Did you know that Dimitris Lignadis' brother - as an actor always - has a salary of 1,700 euros, while the average on the national salary scale is around 1,000 euros?;
8. Did you know that a well-known director and leading actor, who will work with the National Theatre on an exceptional basis, will receive a fee of 1.600€?; That is, pay less than that of his non-actor brother Dimitris Lignadis?;
9. You know all this, Mrs Mendoni.
10. Can you answer us a little bit that I want to see something?;
