Makarios Lazaridis has submitted his resignation from the position of deputy minister of Agricultural Development. In his statement announcing his resignation, he emphasized the following: “With the aim of ensuring that the work of the Government and the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food remains undisturbed, I submit my resignation from the position of Deputy Minister. This decision does not diminish in the slightest my faith in the principles I have served and will continue to serve. I sincerely thank the Prime Minister for his trust and all those who stood by me on this journey.”
Full resignation statement by Makarios Lazaridis
“Throughout my personal life I have conducted myself with integrity and lived with my family with dignity, which I will not allow anyone to tarnish. I stood in politics with the same values, always with my head held high. I fought battles, both inside and outside Parliament, with New Democracy, with steadfast adherence to the principles and values I serve.
The citizens of Kavala honored me with their trust and elected me twice as a member of parliament in my beloved homeland, which is for me the highest honor, but also responsibility. I am proud of the battles alongside Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis both during the difficult years of opposition and during the governance of the country.
I served with consistency and a sense of duty, contributing, to the best of my ability, to the effort for a strong and modern Greece. From the first moment of my public presence I chose transparency. I made public my asset declaration before the 2019 elections, without being obliged to, proving in practice that I was never afraid of scrutiny, but on the contrary sought it.
Throughout this period I countered with arguments and political dignity the attacks of a toxic opposition, which, struggling, seeks a way to survive electorally by investing in mud-slinging and slander over an issue that occurred almost 20 years ago. However, with the aim of ensuring that the work of the Government and the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food remains undisturbed, I submit my resignation from the position of Deputy Minister. This decision does not diminish in the slightest my faith in the principles I have served and will continue to serve. I sincerely thank the Prime Minister for his trust and all those who stood by me on this journey.”
