The expulsion of Marios Salmas from the Parliamentary Group of New Democracy (ND) has several reasons but also messages to all directions.
For some time now, the ND MP has been operating on the edge, with the glass almost overflowing during the session of the Parliamentary Group immediately after the European elections, where he personally criticized the Prime Minister, accusing him of “serving the few at the expense of the many,” with the Prime Minister intervening, annoyed, emphasizing that “he will not accept such insinuations.”
The strategy has not changed since then, with the MP often surpassing the limits of criticism. The last straw for the MP was his recent television appearances last night, where he reiterated claims about photographic government contracts, opposing the government on moral grounds, something that could not be tolerated.
Setting an Example for Others
The truth is that the ND Parliamentary Group recently began to exhibit tendencies that needed to be reined in. Public criticism on everything, a lot of grumbling behind the scenes, and the cherry on top was the question of 11 that was accompanied by “threats” that this strategy would continue. It was now plainly visible that the Parliamentary Group had entered a trajectory that needed to be curbed. This curb is the expulsion of Salmas, with Kyriakos Mitsotakis sending a message of “thus far and no further” to all directions.
And a backstage detail that has its own significance: at the Maximou (the Prime Minister’s office), there was a strong belief that the author and executor of the question of 11 was the now-independent MP of Aetolia-Acarnania, as the tone of the question matched Salmas’s style. This information holds its own particular importance.