Greece’s First Lady Mareva Grabowski-Mitsotakis is poised to initiate legal proceedings against a leading leftist lawmaker following a contentious social media post.
The post, penned by Elena Akrita, made a disparaging and “slanderous” comparison between Ms. Grabowski-Mitsotakis and Tyler McBeth, the spouse of SYRIZA opposition leader, Stefanos Kasselakis.
The Prime Minister’s wife has been at the center of scrutiny and public debate, frequently targetted by opposition lawmakers and media outlets for her personal and professional activities since her spouse’s ascent to the country’s leadership.
“It takes great literary talent to fit so many lies and so much malice into one post,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Monday, responding to a social media post penned by Syriza lawmaker Elena Akrita earlier this week.
He confirmed the First Lady’s intention to pursue legal avenues and announced his readiness to testify in support of her.
“Anyone who wants to politically confront me is free to do so. However, they should finally leave my family out of the political conflict.”
In her post, Ms. Akrita depicted the opposition leader’s husband as a stark contrast to the First Lady, saying “his only mistake was that he was not born a Mareva.”
Tyler, she added “does not possess a property akin to Voltaire’s estate. He is not the owner of 40 undisclosed properties. His business ventures do not involve nefarious dealings with major corporations.”
“He steers clear of political maneuvering involving clandestine agreements. He respects the institutional role of his partner and does not exploit it…. He is transparent with his financial declarations and refrains from any illegal or dubious activities.”
Despite the backlash, the lawmaker stands by her statements. The First Lady’s legal action is anticipated to commence this Wednesday.