Outspoken MP and former minister Pavlos Polakis was expelled from the main opposition SYRIZA party’s Parliamentary group on Thursday afternoon after he verbally attacked the health minister’s legal adviser over her appearance, specifically over what he perceived as a facial expression of “disdain”.
The combative and often antagonistic Polakis, whose been at the center of various confrontations with political opponents and a portion of the press for years, apparently “crossed the line” on Thursday during a Parliamentary committee session convened to consider and deliberate over health sector-related draft bills.
SYRIZA party president Stefanos Kasselakis, who is not a member of Parliament, instructed his leftist party’s Parliament group head, Socrates Famellos, to expel Polakis from the latter. The development doesn’t necessarily mean that Polakis, a general surgeon by training, is expelled from the main opposition party itself. There’s also nary a chance that he will resign from his seat in the 300-deputy Parliament.
The statement that led to the expulsion and widespread outcry by political rivals and some members of his own party was:
“Don’t turn away your face, miss. I am talking to you; you have a permanent crook in your mouth, not a smile, but something like  disrespect. It’s irritating. Here we have a lady, an associate of a minister, who has a permanent contortion on her face, one showing disdain. It’s irritating to see,” Polakis said, in addressing the health minister’s legal adviser, Natasa Petroulia.
The relevant minister, Adonis Georgiadis, was absent from the session, while Petroulia, who is not a Parliament deputy, is not eligible to address the committee.
In one immediate reaction, another SYRIZA deputy in the session, Athina Linou, a professor of epidemiology at the Athens medical school, tearfully extended apologies to Petroulia for her Polakis’ outburst.
“I want to personally apologize to my colleague who suffered this form of (verbal) violence,” Linou tearfully said.
On his part, Georgiadis referred to “bullying” by the Hania prefecture deputy and former alternate health minister during a coalition SYRIZA government (2015-2019).
Below is Georgiadis lengthy post on X, in Greek, regarding the incident:


In a later reaction, Parliament President Costas Tassoulas, who hails from the ruling conservative New Democracy (ND) party, imposed a deduction of Polakis’ pay by half for this month, essentially the first institutional censure against the latter.
In his subsequent response, Polakis appeared unapologetic, forcefully saying that only the voters can kick him out of SYRIZA. He also claimed the incident was “staged”.

Finally, he later entered a meeting of SYRIZA’s Parliamentary group being held at the legislature’s senate chamber, clashing with Famellos and then leaving angrily.

Polakis

MP Pavlos Polakis, left, is confronted by SYRIZA Parliamentary group head Socrates Famelos, right standing, on Thursday (July 25, 2024) afternoon shortly after the former was expelled from the specific grouping of deputies.