The Greek Parliament ratified the historical Prespes Agreement with 153 YES. The majority was achieved with 145 SYRIZA votes as well as with the votes of ministers Kountoura (ex ANEL) and Papakosta (independent), two votes from To Potami (Theodorakis, Mavrotas) and the votes of DIMAR (Theocharopoulos), Democratic Left (Lykoudis), ex PASOK (Danellis) and ANEL MP (Papachristopoulos).
Vassilis Kokkalis, who was expelled from ANEL over Prespes voted No, while Grigoris Psarianos, who left To Potami over the Prespes, voted “present.”
All 300 lawmakers of the Greek Parliament were present. “Next generations will be grateful to lawmakers who voted Yes,” Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said right after the vote. “Today is a historic day. Greece is safeguarding an important part of its history, the legacy of ancient Greek Macedonia.” Main opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis (New Democracy), a declared opponent of the Macedonia deal, said “it is a difficult day for Greece.”
Incident with Golden Dawn
An incident took place during the roll call, when Golden Dawn MP Konstantinos Barbarousis shouted “NO to treason.” Parliament Speaker Nikos Voutsis said he would consider the vote as “invalid.” The rest of the GD MPs stood up, with MP Lagos swear at SYRIZA lawmakers and to move towards them. It was another GD MP who held Lagos back.
Protesters outside the Parliament
The rain did not help the scheduled protest at noon. Just a few dozens people gathered outside the Parliament at the time of the vote.
Had they be more would the 153 lawmakers decided otherwise? Hardly.
All those dark channels from abroad that funded the big protest should now start contemplating on whether the money spent was worth to politically divide the country. but this was their goal in first place, anyway…
