Christos Tarantilis submitted his resignation from the position of government spokesman in a letter to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, citing family reasons.
The Deputy Government Spokesperson, Aristotelia Peloni, will act as Government Spokesperson.
It is recalled that Christos Tarantilis had assumed the duties of government representative in the reshuffle of January 4, when Stelios Petsas had “moved” to the Ministry of Interior as a deputy minister in charge of local government issues.
A professor at the Athens University of Economics and Business (formerly ASOEE), Mr Tarantilis was elected as a state deputy of the New Democracy party in the 2019 Greek parliamentary elections and is secretary of the Standing Committee on Educational Affairs and a member of the Special Standing Committee on Research and Technology in the Parliament, while he also participated as a member of the Constitution Revision Committee of the Parliament in the autumn of 2019.
He was also appointed Secretary of Strategic Planning and Communication of New Democracy in January 2017 and has since then been part of the close staff of Kyriakos Mitsotakis' associates.
He was the professor at the “NW executives academy”, i.e. he taught NW executives about the value of strategic decision-making by persons in leadership or management roles, and he was also the one who created the “curriculum”, i.e. he determined the subject of the seminars.
But Mr Tarantilis today resigned for family reasons, he said.
In a letter to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Mr Tarantilis said:
«Honorable Mr. President,
I want to thank you sincerely for the great honour of appointing me Deputy Minister and Government Spokesman.
Family reasons that have since arisen do not allow me to continue to carry out these tasks.
I want to assure you that from the parliamentary benches I will continue to be at the forefront of our efforts for great reforms that will change the country, always honouring the trust you have shown me.
With respect,
Christos Tarantilis»
Tarantilis' response to SYRIZA
A few hours later, and after SYRIZA's announcement on the matter, Mr Tarantilis, in a post on his Facebook account, clarified for the second time that his resignation was not due to political reasons.
«I remain faithful to the principles of the New Democracy and to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, continuing to serve the party and the President as a state deputy and working for our reform programme», he said.
He speaks of an arbitrary interpretation of the announcement of his resignation by the opposition, which, as he notes, is trying to exploit it politically.
He reiterates that he wanted to resign from his position as government representative solely for family reasons. «I ask everyone to respect these reasons,» Tarantilis stresses, adding: «It is good for everyone to realize at some point that political activity develops simultaneously and in parallel with our family life. And often, difficulties in one area adversely affect the other. The management of such sensitive issues is left to the choices of each individual, but these choices must be respected by others. Otherwise, politics becomes a levelling invader of the private space of every citizen. And this is not in keeping with the political culture that we have a duty to build day by day.
https://www.facebook.com/xtarantilis/posts/491564345562716
