At the very least, concern—perhaps even embarrassment—has been caused within New Democracy (ND) following the outcome of the selection process for Greece’s new Supreme Court Prosecutor. While the final decision rests with the Cabinet and recommendations from either the Parliamentary Conference or judicial bodies are not strictly binding, the fact that Vasilis Floridis, the brother of Justice Minister Georgios Floridis, emerged as the top candidate has raised ethical questions.
The Parliamentary Conference, after hearing all candidates and ahead of its recommendation to Parliament regarding the appointment of the new Supreme Court Prosecutor, proceeded to a vote. From the count, Deputy Prosecutor Vasilis Floridis was declared first with a total of 17 votes in favor. He was followed by Konstantinos Tzavelas with 14 votes, Maria Gkane with 12, Anastasios Skaras with 10, Efstathia Kapayianni with 7, and Anastasia-Niki Mouzaki with 6 votes.
The Parliamentary Conference consists of 27 members, 15 of whom belong to ND’s parliamentary group. This means that even if all ND MPs voted for Floridis—overlooking the fact that he is the brother of Justice Minister Georgios Floridis, which raises an ethical issue—there were also two more MPs from other parliamentary groups who supported him.
Floridis’ leading position sparked discussions inside Parliament, especially since earlier reports had pointed toward Konstantinos Tzavelas as the likely favorite. The familial connection between Vasilis Floridis and the Justice Minister reportedly came up during the Conference session by Fotini Constantopoulou of the Plousios Eleftheria party. During the hearing, she questioned Floridis directly, to which he responded: ‘I am here to be judged on whether I have the qualifications for this role. If I do, I should get it. If not, then someone else should.’
He further added, ‘Going back to dark times and outdated views about family guilt has already been addressed at the Nuremberg Trials.’
Before the debate, Constantopoulou criticized the government during a plenary speech for allegedly manipulating the judiciary by promoting the Justice Minister’s brother, backed solely by ND lawmakers.