The leaders of Greece’s parliamentary parties exchanged jabs today in a plenary session initiated with a briefing of this year’s fire season, that expanded to a wider-ranging debate on various hot-button topics. 

As expected, Prime Minister and New Democracy head Kyriakos Mitsotakis, and newly re-elected PASOK party leader Nikos Androulakis focused particularly on critiquing each other on positions related to climate change and beyond.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis opened with a report on this year’s fire season, and concluded with a pointed warning to the center-left party president: “And let me say to Mr Androulakis, after congratulating him on his re-election, on the basis of something I read in your question: this is not an alibi, let’s make that clear. The climate crisis is not an alibi, it is a reality. It is a crisis that has no color, no party. It is a danger that affects everyone and in the face of the climate crisis we have a duty to stand united and coordinated.”

In his address, Androulakis delivered a scathing critique of Mitsotakis’ administration, accusing it of undermining public trust and mishandling national crises. “Are you proud of what you have achieved in the last five and a half years? Do citizens feel safe?” he demanded. “Continued failures create a general climate of insecurity among citizens. They feel that the state is not playing its role.”

Androulakis opened his wide-ranging speech with a condemnation of the state funding of the Spartiates party– which PASOK has called for to be suspended several times–, noted that Mitsotakis did not acknowledge the 40,000-euro fine levied by the the Hellenic Data Protection Authority against the party on Tuesday for failing to properly protect personal data, and accused the government of not doing enough to ensure an accident like the Tempi train crash would never happen again. 

In regards to fires, Androulakis also lamented the slow recovery of burned forest lands in Attica, and warned about the long-term impacts on the environment. He alleged that Mitsotakis was using climate change as a cover-up or “alibi” for mismanagement of the fires: “The climate crisis is not an excuse… Yes, climate change is real, and no one disputes that. The real issue is whether there’s a well-prepared and effective national strategy,” he said.

However, the most controversial moment of the plenary session came before Androulakis’ speech, when Mitsotakis ostentatiously stood up and walked out during the speech of SYRIZA’s interim leader, Nikos Pappas. Nearly half of the New Democracy MPs followed the prime minister in leaving the chamber. The move was seen as both a protest against Pappas and a broader rejection of SYRIZA as the primary opposition party. (In 2023 Pappas was convicted for his involvement in a controversial 2016 television license tender under the SYRIZA administration.) Mitsotakis returned for the speech of PASOK leader Nikos Androulakis, essentially crowning PASOK as his main opposition, and remained for all the remaining party leader speeches.