The Syriza-Independent Greeks coalition government has lost all sense of seriousness and responsibility.
Now we learn that the national interest is inextricably tied to that of a middleman who has made arms deals right and left.
The anxiety of the government over its friend and ally, Independent Greeks leader Panos Kammenos, is understandable, as the case of the munitions sale to Saudi Arabia is turning into a short fuse bomb, which threatens the cohesion of the government.
Either because they cannot do otherswise, or because something much broader is hidden behind this dark affair, they are attempting in every way to defend and cover any possible extra-institutional interventions of Kammenos.
The fact that Prime Minister Tsipras demanded a postponement of the debate so that he could be there in person means that he will defend his junior partner to the end.
Yet, they exceed all limits of political confrontation when they directly threaten with a ten-year prison sentence MPs who did not leak confidential documents, but rather submitted them to parliament, as was their duty.
Instead of the foreign ministry, which is responsible for intergovernmental agreements, offering an explanation for why a middle-man was used, despite the expressed opposition of buyer Saudi Arabia, the ministry has chosen the path of threats, in a bid to shut mouths.
The announcement of the foreign ministry is an affront to parliament.
If Foreign Minister Kotzias has reached the point as viewing parliamentarians as citizens lacking a sense of national responsibility, then something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
It is a debasement of MPs and of the paramount institution of a democracy.
Mr. Tsipras and his ministers, for reasons known to themselves, may have decided to identify their policy and history with Mr. Kammenos. It is their right to defend him.
But they have no right to degrade parliament and threaten MPs, mimicking Recep Tayyip Erdogan or Hugo Chavez.
Woe unto the country that wants to belong to Europe, yet follows practices that are the hallmark of undemocratic regimes.
