New fight between Georgiadis and Papoutsis over shipping

A fight broke out between Minister of Citizen Protection Christos Papoutsis and Mr. Adonis Georgiadis, Vice Minister in the same Ministry and responsible for Shipping.

The controversy which has begun concerning the migration of the ministry’s services intensifies.

Please note that just yesterday, on the orders of Mr. Georgiadis, the migration which had been ordered by Mr. Papoutsis was judged illegal.

At noon, Mr. Georgiades spoke on NET channel and very strongly attacked Mr. Papoutsis, in connection with the regulation on piracy and specifically the presence of armed guards on merchant ships.

The deputy minister stated that “Papoutsis had no jurisdiction over this matter, which is purely for the Ministry of Shipping”, and that it caused the quick reaction of the Union of Greek Shipowners.

“If Mr. Chrisohoidis and I had not reacted directly, reassuring the shipping world, then we would have lost 300 ships’ worthy of bearing the Greek flag. The assurance of Mr. Chrisohoidis to the owners was that agreements must be respected”, he added.

But he did not stop there, stating: “We should not put people who have never worked a day in their lives in any position, they are dangerous”.

Those statements provoked a strong reaction by the minister, who in an official statement declared the following:

“The only institution responsible for the legislative initiative to combat piracy is the Minister of Citizen Protection”.

The statement also refers: “It is obvious and necessary that the Ministry of Development, Competitiveness and Shipping should be involved, since the whole matter reflects on shipping and the economy at large. It is also obvious that the ministries of Exterior, Defense, Justice and Human Rights and Transparency will also be involved”.

“In any case, there was no mention that this provision was a product of discussion and agreement with the Union of Shipowners, as the vice minister suggests. It is well known that Mr. Christos Papoutsis, in his political career, always refused to support any legislative initiatives that were dictated in a shady background”, stated the Ministry of Citizen Protection.