Former Deputy Minister of Rural Development and New Democracy MP for Kavala, Makarios Lazaridis, took to the floor of the Greek Parliament to provide answers and evidence in response to allegations made against him regarding the acquisition of his academic degree. He made clear that no illegal act on his part exists and that the matter relates exclusively to an administrative error by the relevant public service. Referring to his resignation from the government, he stated that it “was a political act of responsibility, so as not to cast any shadow over the government’s functioning — and not an admission of guilt or an acceptance of any unlawful action.”
Mr. Lazaridis emphasized that: a) there is no forged degree, no false documentation, and no attempt to mislead the administration; b) the ministry’s own administration, having his full service file on record, had already classified him under the Secondary Education category prior to 2007. The disputed error arose during the drafting of a subsequent appointment act by the competent service, which incorrectly placed him in the “Special Scientist” category; c) payroll records prove that he did not receive a single euro more than he was entitled to under his legitimate official classification. All relevant documents and evidence were formally submitted by Mr. Lazaridis to the parliamentary record.
Lazaridis: “How could I have misled the administration?”
“There is no forged degree. There is no false documentation. There is no misleading of the administration. There is no financial gain. There is no illegal act attributable to me,” the New Democracy MP stressed. He further argued that the facts of the case rule out any claim of intent to deceive or defraud the administration, as all information regarding his qualifications and service status had been known and recorded in his official file from the outset.
“How could I have misled the administration about information it already knew and kept in my official file? How can anyone speak of deception when my actual qualifications were known and on record from the very beginning?” he asked. He also dismissed as entirely unfounded any claims of financial benefit, noting that his salary never exceeded what corresponded to his legitimate official classification. At the same time, criticizing the opposition, he argued that an attempt had been made to transform an administrative matter into a political scandal without any factual basis.
“They had no scandal, so they tried to manufacture one. They had no evidence, so they tried to replace it with noise. They had no facts, so they tried to substitute them with mud-slinging. Most troubling of all is that they did not hesitate to target not only me but also my family, believing that personal attacks could substitute for political argument,” he noted.
Mr. Lazaridis underlined that in a democracy, political debate is legitimate — but distortion of facts and the moral destruction of political opponents is not. As he stated, “the truth is not shaped by shouting or by headlines. It is shaped by facts. And facts, sooner or later, always restore the truth.”
“Today I spoke first and foremost to the citizens of Kavala — to the people who know me, who know my track record, who know my presence in our region. It is to them that I am accountable. It is to them that I owe a clear voice. And to them I say: I carry on — standing tall, with a clear conscience, and with resolve,” Makarios Lazaridis concluded.
