ATHENS — Greece’s Deputy Agriculture Minister Makarios Lazaridis resigned on Saturday after it was revealed he was hired in the public sector without the required qualifications.
He was appointed earlier this month in a mini Cabinet reshuffle in Athens after a widening farm scandal prompted resignations, including that of Agriculture Minister Konstantinos Tsiaras. Former European Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas took over as the new agriculture minister.
It was then revealed that Lazaridis had been employed as an expert scientist in 2007 to the then-minister of education of the New Democracy party, and then again in 2013. The position requires a minimum of a university degree, doctorate or postgraduate qualification.
Lazaridis holds a diploma from the College of Southeastern Europe, a now-defunct private school whose credentials were not formally recognized as equivalent to a degree. When he left his position to work in the office of the now Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, it was filled instantly by his wife.
In a series of interviews this week, Lazaridis defended himself and said he wouldn’t justify his credentials to opposition parties and that he is not as lazy as “all left-wingers.” On Thursday, though, he offered to return any compensation he received improperly.
Lazaridis on Saturday said he was resigning to ensure the government and the agriculture ministry could continue their work “without distraction” and accused opposition parties of “toxic attacks” and “slander.”
The main opposition party, PASOK, was quick to criticize Mitsotakis’s administration.
The resignation of Lazaridis “underscores just how weak the prime minister is,” PASOK said in a statement. “In the end, he opened the exit door himself, since his admission that he had defrauded the state was not grounds for dismissal in Mitsotakis’s eyes.”
