File photo.
Dora Bakoyannis, a former minister and senior lawmaker with ruling New Democracy, said Saturday that Makarios Lazaridis should resign as deputy agriculture minister to “facilitate the prime minister and his party” amid controversy over his academic qualifications.
“This whole story is very troubling and comes at a cost for us,” she told Mega TV. “What happened took place 20 years ago, and it is clear that it was irregular,” she added.
“This case clouds the message of meritocracy, while we have made a tremendous effort all these years to bring back young people who left for abroad,” she said.
Lazaridis, who was appointed in a limited government reshuffle earlier this month, has faced backlash over the degree he submitted in 2007 to serve as an expert scientist in the office of the late education minister, Marietta Giannakou.