The Deputy Minister of Rural Development, Makarios Lazaridis, made a lengthy statement on the issue of his degree, even presenting publicly the degree he obtained in 1992 from The College of Southeastern Europe. During a television appearance, he attempted to clarify the institutional framework that applied in the past, responding to the criticisms he has received.
As he argued, “in 2007 you could work as a temporary employee even with this certificate of study despite the fact that it was not recognised. Because temporary employees are appointed by a political choice of the minister, they do not go through an APS and therefore there is no formal qualification test as there is for a permanent employee.”
He went on to explain that the institutional framework of the time allowed for greater flexibility in recruitment, saying: “Based on the more relaxed framework of Law 2190/1994, there were cases when people without formal academic qualifications were appointed as post-employees and in the GGC they appeared with titles of specialist scientist,” he said while speaking to OREN.
In the same context, Lazaridis cited the case of Thalia Dragona as an example, noting that “the similar example with Professor Thalia Dragona, who was a PASOK state deputy and then General Secretary in 2009-2010 and had exactly the same issue. She graduated from Deree, so the degree did not have the recognition from the DIKATSA.”
Responding to the criticisms raised, he questioned: “If the administration at that time had deemed Lazarides did not qualify, do you think I would have been hired? I gave what I was asked to give by the financial management. In those years, it changed afterwards and rightly so, experience in the field was judged more.”
At the same time, he went into a personal retrospective, describing his studies: “40 years back in 1987 I made a conscious choice to study at a college, The College of Southeastern Europe. I went with my daughters to photograph it, one of the buildings was on Amalias Avenue, it had a building in Kifissia that is now a gallery, it had a building that is now a kindergarten, a building that is now a shipping company and a big building that is now a warehouse on the highway in Varybobi. I graduated June 7, 1992, I majored in political science and journalism. These colleges at that time, today’s self-righteous critics wouldn’t even make it through the first semester. Thousands of students graduated from there, many went on to graduate with that degree. I will not apologize for life choices I made 40 years ago. In keeping with the times, they were liberal studies labs.”
Referring to his subsequent career path, he noted that “in 2013 the same framework was in place when I was hired as a special adviser in the office of the Secretary General for Equality,” he added in a strong tone: “throughout my life I have lived my family very honourably and various rubbish will not put me in if I become like them.”
He concluded by launching an attack on the opposition, claiming: “The opposition has targeted me because I have fought many battles against them. I will go to the money laundering authority against Polakis to tell us where he got it from as mayor. I did not think about resigning because I am very clean, I will not indulge anyone in the criminal law, like Kasselakis and Polakis.”
@ellada24gr Lazaridis: Because I’m not lazy, as leftists are, I was doing other jobs at the same time. Are they attempting character assassination, and I’m going to say “thank you” to them? I don’t get anything back for the leftists. #greeknews #newsfeed #foryoupage #greektiktok #tiktokgreece #tiktokgr #fyp #ελληνικοτικτοκ #forgiou #politicsnews #politiki #politicstiktok #politics #foryou ♬ original sound – Ellada24
