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The report by Governor of the Bank of Greece Yiannis Stournaras in which he warns that a possible failure to conclude an agreement with creditors could take Greece out of the euro zone, and then subsequently out of the European Union has set against him the entire cabinet and SYRIZA.

"The government respects the independence of the central bank and what it wants is for the central bank to respect its independence," said government spokesman Gabriel Sakellaridis in a political talk show. According to him, the report by Stournaras contains details that fall outside the role of the Bank of Greece.

According to Sakellaridis, the report has obviously caused problems in terms of whether the top banker is ensuring the stability of the Greek banking system and to what extent. "The question is not whether Mr. Stournaras respects the cabinet but if he, as a representative of an institution, is striving to ensure the stability of the banking system for which he is responsible and the confidence of citizens in it," he said, replying to the question as to whether the government has confidence in Yiannis Stournaras in the following way: "When the government of Antonis Samaras is subject to criticism, it obviously affects Mr. Stournaras too. Appointing him Governor of the Bank of Greece has not turned him into a "sacred cow". From this position, he is obliged to ensure the stability of the banking system [...]. Our confidence in Mr. Stournaras directly relates to the degree to which he duly performs his obligations."

Commenting on the decision of president of parliament Zoe Konstantopoulou to return the report, arguing that it was submitted in an electronic format not on paper, the government spokesman said, "Mrs. Konstantopoulou is the president of parliament and the post allows her to act however she considers appropriate." Sakellaridis said that, probably, he would not have reacted so harshly in her place but added that he agreed with the essence of Konstantopoulou’s position, "It is not that Mr. Stournaras has challenged the government’s policy. But in my opinion he has gone beyond his role as a guarantor of the stability of the banking system."

It is worth noting that this was not the first time that the president of the Greek parliament behaved edifyingly and exceeded her authority. Recently she had reprimanded a police chief for not allowing a group of protesters to enter the parliament building. Then she prohibited the riot police officers from entering the parliament building and using the lavatory, and ordered their colleagues who guard the building to wear civilian clothes.

At the same time, the attacks that she is using the parliamentary television as a means of personal advertising have become more frequent. On her own initiative, she has set up a parliamentary commission to investigate the Greek sovereign debt and the German war reparations, and obtained the nickname "McCarthyist" because of the way in which the hearing of the new management of the state broadcaster ERT took place.

The pro-European opposition parties, however, opposed the actions of Zoe Konstantopoulou against the Governor of the Bank of Greece. According to the spokesman of New Democracy, "the government is chasing ghosts in order to hide its own inability to cope with the situation for 100 days. It is the fault of the partners, creditors, institutions (as the government calls the supervisory Troika - author's note), the main opposition party and the opposition as a whole, as well as the media, the Governor of the Bank of Greece, the director of the commission on securities and stock exchanges, and even of the representatives of state institutions. In any case, they are not guilty of anything. All their actions are correct ... Who is wrong now?" said party spokesman Kostas Karagounis.

In the same vein, the Potami party (The River) states that "the government has found its new internal enemy." According to it, however, if the attacks against Yiannis Stournaras are hiding the intention of the cabinet to replace the Governor of the Bank of Greece, it should happen openly, not through underhand dealings.

PASOK stresses that the independence of the Bank of Greece is a basic rule in the economic governance of the euro zone.

At the same time, SYRIZA MP Rachel Makri, who was a deputy of Independent Greeks until recently, said she would institute proceedings against Yiannis Stournaras for creating a fear of Grexit. She urged the prosecutor’s office "to initiate an investigation of the existence of premeditation in all statements that jeopardize the stability of the Greek banking system and directly and indirectly incite citizens to take panic actions."

Before the elections, the same lawmaker suggested that Greece should solve its financial problems by printing alone 100 billion euro. Her message yesterday stated that the Greek parliament had rejected "the 47-page proposal on the further deterioration of the Greek economy through recessionary measures and the condemnation of Greek society to suffer the negative consequences of the humanitarian crisis." The document that she described actually is the proposal of the Greek government to creditors in the negotiations to reach an agreement.