Galery

1

Anastasia Balezdrova

After Minister of Finance Yiannis Stournaras, his colleague in the Ministry of Health, Adonis Georgiadis, is the most popular person in the Greek traditional and social media. The difference, however, is that Georgiadis himself provokes various comments. Often the minister is so sincere that his opponents in the verbal duels remain literally open-mouthed.

The most recent example of this was a statement, which shocked the majority of the audience in Greece, namely, "If it comes to cuts to doctors in the public health care system, please, do not perceive them as the work of the Troika. I do not want Thomsen to gain glory for actions that should be taken anyway. The decisions are mine," said Georgiadis, horrifying those who are used to the idea that the Greeks in the public sector are a "sacred cow".

"The word ‘glory’ means ‘responsibility’. I said that it is not possible for Paul Thomsen to gain glory. In fact, he is not gaining any glory. In Greece, all are abusing him. We’re the ones who have to gain glory, i.e. responsibility," he said after a wave of negative reactions by the civil servants who are used to being taken care of.

Adonis Georgiadis, aged 41, is one of the most controversial figures on the Greek political scene. He began his political career in George Karatzaferis’ populist far right LAOS party and elected to parliament for the first time in 2007. Four years later, after the fall of the government of George Papandreou, Georgiadis was appointed Deputy Minister of Merchant Marine in the interim government of Lucas Papademos. Just three months later, he resigned and, two days later (13 February 2012), he was disaffiliated from the parliamentary group of the LAOS party for not adhering to the party line by voting "for" the adoption of the second memorandum of financial assistance to Greece.

Immediately afterwards, Adonis Georgiadis gave up his deputy’s seat and, four days later, he became a member of New Democracy. He was elected a deputy from the ranks of the blue during the parliamentary elections of 11 June 2012 and, on 25 June this year, he headed the Ministry of Health. Georgiadis is married to Eugenia Manolidou, a conductor and composer of classical music, but who is better known as the host of various TV shows.

The timbre of Georgiadis’ voice often gets to the limit of its vocal capacity, which irritates the listeners of his statements, but his eloquence compensates for this. He creates the impression that the Ministry of Health is one of the departments that is meeting the objectives set. Moreover, it is becoming increasingly clear that he is quite aware of the nature of his work.

An example of this is yet another swordplay in parliament. The changes in the public health system turned Georgiadis into the object of criticism by Chrisoula Yiatagana, a deputy of Independent Greeks, who urged him to apply to Greece the patterns of the health systems of the USA and Australia. She received the following reply:

"It would be better to explore a certain topic before we begin talking about it. The hospitals in Greece are operating according to the Australian model. In order for you to find out how closely we have adhered to the system of Australia, I must tell you that we have even a centre to respond in the event that a kangaroo bites you. They have so carefully translated the models that we have even stipulated what we will pay if a kangaroo bites someone. If anyone knows where to find a kangaroo in Athens, let him call me."

Regarding the deputy’s words, that Greece should not "give everything to Merkel" in order for it to remain in the euro zone, Georgiadis had a ready answer again, "As for the USA, I am aware of your strong love for the dollar. I remember the proposal of your leader, Panos Kamenos, to leave the euro zone and accept the dollar as the currency of the country. Isn’t this the basis for the cooperation between Independent Greeks and SYRIZA? Their love for Texas, on the one hand, and yours for the dollar, on the other, will help you reach an agreement somewhere in the middle." In this case, his criticism is associated with the main opposition party whose leader Alexis Tsipras has recently returned from Texas, where he had delivered a lecture, in which he stated that the exit from the euro zone would be a disaster for the country that had decided to do so.

One of the main criticisms against Adonis Georgiadis by his political opponents is associated with his profession and especially with the fact that he is selling his books not only in bookshops but also on television.

"We are talking about very serious things that cannot be taken with mockery and with humorous behaviour by people who, in their spare time, sneak into the studio to shoot television sales. Then subsequently those broadcasts are being shown with the ‘repeat’ sign, although they cannot be repeated, just because their host is holding a ministerial post," said Alexis Tsipras in parliament.

Adonis Georgiadis had organised a special press conference to respond, describing, during it, the level of the opposition leader as low and stating that it expressed hatred towards him.