Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has accepted the resignation of Deputy Education Minister Kostas Zouraris, of the Independent Greeks party, who tendered his resignation after launching a lewd attack on two major Greek athletics teams, Olympiacos and Aris.
A government source had told To Vima that the prime minister would take his decision after consulting his junior coalition partner, Independent Greeks leader and Defense Minister Panos Kammenos.
Tsipras delayed accepting the resignation until after yesterday’s parliamentary vote on the omnibus bill demanded by creditors, in which Zouraris voted yes along with the other ruling coalition MPs.
Zouraris tendered his resignation after his vulgar attack on the two teams created an uproar. He then proceeded to liken his remarks to the satirical comedy of Aristophanes, presumably because the ancient playwright at times resorted to bawdy language, a comparison that was quickly mocked.
It is not the first time that Zouraris’ outbursts have put the government in a difficult position.
When the education ministry recently banned school trips abroad, Zouraris defended the move, asserting that students used the trips to visit brothels.
Other Independent Greeks MPs called for his resignation. Dimitris Kammenos, an Independent Greeks MP who in the past gained notoriety for his anti-Semitic and homophobic remarks, declared that there was no room in the party for both himself and Zouraris.
Kammenos was forced to resign the post of deputy development minister within 24 hours, when it became known he had compared the EU to Auschwitz in a social media post, and in the past had made other racist posts.
