«We welcome your party to a strategic choice that you have infested with fury» said from the podium Plenary, during the debate on the bill on the extension of territorial waters in the Ionian Sea, the leader of the opposition. Recalling the inflammatory statements of Mr Kikilias and Mr Koumoutsakos the 2018 and in particular when the previous government had announced its intention to undertake such an undertaking, concluded that unreliability was second nature to the Prime Minister. «What you said then, how can you justify it now?» he asked, asking the Sun. Mitsotakis to make the basic self-criticism.
In this context, he included in his criticism the conflicting stance of the Southwest in relation to the Prespa Agreement. «Do you really remember, Mr Mitsotakis, with what ease and national frivolity you told us in this hall that the Prespes Agreement is a ’national defeat that has already been annulled in the consciousness of the Greek people and a national mistake that insults both the truth and the history of our country?» he asked and recalled the statement Boris About «national minority government», which Mr. Mitsotakis had applauded. «For an agreement that you now respect and honour» he added scornfully.
In relation to the Turkish provocativeness in Aegean Sea and in Eastern Mediterranean, Mr. Tsipras accused the government of a lack of strategy, while quoting the contradictory statements Dendias - Mitsotakis «In your article, Mr.Prime Minister, in three foreign newspapers on 9/9/2020, you talked about investigations (of the Orooch Reyes) in ¨undefined maritime zones¨, while at the same time the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was talking about a violation of sovereign rights ¨within our continental shelf¨ and yesterday Mr. Dendias told us that our country's position on the Greek continental shelf is expressed by the Maniatis Law» he said and added: «Of course, while you have been proclaiming everywhere that the Greece will defend its sovereignty and sovereign rights, Mr. Gerapetritis was saying that our red line is six nautical miles. And when we were stressing that the only way to defend a right that is being violated is to exercise it and we were proposing the extension of territorial waters south and east of Crete, Mr Gerapetritis was talking about "easy lionisation" and Mr. Chrysochoidis called our proposal »nationalist".
«No to greying and demilitarisation»
The president of SYRIZA - Progressive Alliance criticized the government's backtracking with diplomatic impact on the arms issue and described the conditions for the resumption of exploratory contacts with the Turkey. In his words, the strategic deficit and government practice «watching and doing» is the main reason for the low expectations of the resumption of the informal dialogue with the neighbours.
However, he pointed out that the opposition supports the restart of the exploratory talks for shelf and EEZ with a view to reaching an honourable agreement on the basis of international law, either bilaterally or by recourse to the International Court of Justice in The Hague. «Greece, however, must be firmly opposed to any discussion of allegedly "grey belts ή "demilitarised islands. It must be firm in the face of third-party pressure on issues relating to our sovereignty and sovereign rights. Above all, let me repeat, our red lines must be absolutely clear. But we have no idea what the specific objectives of the negotiation will be and the tactics we will follow», he concluded.
