The measures the Ministry of Culture intends to take in case the Hellenic Football Federation or UEFA attempt to hide details for the match fixing scandal include closing the clubs of football fans who are considered the main culprits of violence in Greek stadiums and possibly delay the start of the Greek Championship and the participation of Greek teams in European championships.
According to the Minister Pavlos Geroulanos, the Greek government is determined to use all measures. It would not hesitate to cancel the participation of Greek teams in European championships or to postpone the start of the Greek Championship after September. The fan clubs will eventually be closed for a period of one year, while adapting to the new legal framework.
During the discussion in the PASOK sports department, one of the lawmakers told the Minister that "Erdogan cleared the football in Turkey for a week" to be replied that the Turkish government had interfered in the judiciary for that purpose. "We do not intend to intervene in a similar way," said Pavlos Geroulanos.
They presented at the meeting the new bill on violence in stadiums, which, according to the Minister, the Parliament will introduce and pass in summer. It provides for changes in statutes and operations of the fan clubs and the introduction of e-tickets for entering the stadiums.
A little later during the meeting of the Committee on Educational Affairs at the Parliament the Minister said that, "the recovery of the Greek football will take place in a better way if we stay in Europe. We should make radical steps to show that the state has the power to fight corruption."
Pavlos Geroulanos nevertheless admitted that, "the country has never exerted the necessary pressure to make the things come to a pass. We introduced clauses for violence in the state lottery and more severe penalties in sports law, but the results showed that it was not enough."
As for the fixed matches the Minister said, "We sent a folder from UEFA to the prosecution. We submitted all the data we had. Currently, 83 people are accused of fixing matches, 11 were seized, 3 were arrested, 1 is wanted, and the examination of 68 people starts on Monday."
According to the minister, the new bill will regulate the establishment of fan clubs, the conditions for their control, the conditions for the organized movement of fans, the introduction of the e-ticket and the conditions for the cooperation of the management of football and basketball teams with private security companies. "We also insist on the people convicted of hooliganism to serve their sentences that were delayed. The bill shows the government will to "tighten the screw."
Yiannis Ioannidis, the New Democracy representative in charge of sports, said that the sports have three enemies: violence, doping and fixed matches. "We have never been strict enough with the teams and it is time to change this. Penalties should be tightened and defined more precisely. The general feeling is that there is no equality."
According to the secretary of the PASOK parliamentary group Vasilis Eksarhos, football recovery is part of the recovery of the public life. The representative of the Communist Party Kostas Kazakos said that sports have become an endless gambling and its features are the profits and the circus.
The lawmaker from the far-right party LAOS Athanasios Plevris noted that sporting justice should coordinate with the criminal one and stressed that the state lottery should resort to all legal actions on the issue of fixed matches.
Thassos Kourakis from the radical left coalition SYRIZA said that relationship of football with gambling had catastrophic consequences and supported the idea of separating the amateur from professional football.
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