Several Government ministers and Syriza MPs are angered with Zoe Konstantopoulou, president of Greece's House of Parliament.
Syriza MP Zoe Konstantopoulou was elected president of Greece's House of Parliament on Friday 6 2015, after receiving a record-breaking 235 votes.
Born in Athens in December 1976, Mrs. Konstantopoulou, has become the youngest parliament president in the history of the House and the second woman to the appointed to the role.
Konstantopoulou is a Sorbonne-educated lawyer specializing in national, European and international criminal law and human rights. She is also the daughter of the former president of Synaspismos, later renamed Syriza, Nikos Konstantopoulos.
Konstantopoulou's public appearances were frequently covered by media since she was first elected to the Greek Parliament in 2012. She was mostly seen quarreling with members from other parties.
The Syriza MP has used her office to set up parliamentary committees to fight against corruption and promote the issue of Greek war reparations claims against Germany. The German government considers the compensation issue settled.
In the past month she has toured European capitals to make Greece’s case; during her European tour she visited Moscow to attend the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the Soviet Union's defeat of Nazi Germany – standing alongside Vladimir Putin at the Victory Day parade in Red Square in central Moscow on 8 May.
Yesterday, as police blocked pensioners taking part in a demonstration from approaching the Parliament, Mrs. Konstantopoulou stormed out of her office and confronted the police commander, live on TV.
After the event occurred Ministers and MPs were unable to hide their anger and their frustration by the behavior and conduct of the Parliament's President. Alexis Tsipras, Greece's PM, has rebuked Mrs. Konstantipoulou for her behavior which , according to the Greek PM, rises impediments to the government's efforts. Labor Minister Panos Skourletis, Syriza's parliamentary speaker Nikos Filis and vice president of the Parliament Alexis Mitropoulos also criticized the attitude of Mrs. Konstantopoulou.