Deputy Agriculture Minister Makarios Lazaridis refused on Tuesday to resign over his disputed academic qualifications, saying he “did not have to justify” his credentials to opposition parties calling for his removal.
Just 11 days after he was appointed minister in a limited government reshuffle, Lazaridis is facing backlash over the degree he submitted to take the position of expert scientist in the office of late education minister Marietta Giannakou, in 2007.
PASOK and SYRIZA have questioned how the New Democracy MP served as an expert in 2007, when Law 2190/1994 required a minimum of a university degree, doctorate or postgraduate qualification for the post, none of which he possessed.
“I do not have to justify life choices I made 40 years ago,” Lazaridis told Open TV on Tuesday, saying his background is “clear and honest.” Asked why he had previously claimed to have graduated from a public university in a social media post on January 2, the minister attributed it to a “mix up” in syntax.
More questions were raised by the opposition when Lazaridis presented his degree in the same interview and said he graduated in 1992. Stefanos Kasselakis, the leader of the small Movement for Democracy party, noted that the college in question was founded in the US state of Delaware in 1991, which means it is unlikely that Lazaridis graduated a year later.
New Left leader Gavriil Sakellaridis also said that Lazaridis has to return the wages he received for the illegal appointment.
The prime minister’s office has not commented on the issue.