Parliament Speaker Zoe Konstantopoulou met with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Thursday.
The two-hour meeting came after she penned a letter addressed to President Prokopis Pavlopoulos and Tsipras. In the letter Konstantopoulou asserted the measures demanded by Greece's creditors were a "violent attack on democracy," arguing that lawmakers had been given very little time to study the voluminous bill.
President Pavlopoulos replied, in writing, that her letter aired personal opinions and not ones voted on by the Parliament plenum.
Konstantopoulou spoke to the media after she met the Greek premier at Prime Ministry office in Athens. “Democracy is on trial, with Greece being the victim.” the Speaker said. She pointed to a spirit of “commitment and honesty” linking her and the Greek PM, however, she said that SYRIZA should “enforce the rights of our nation” while she pointed to the need for a “convergence of the left and SYRIZA.”
After the meeting with Konstantopoulou, Tsipras made it known he was concerned about the “institutional discord” between his government and the Speaker, who told deputies the previous night that the Greek government was the victim of “blackmail” and a “coup”.
Konstantopoulou, voted against the second raft of reforms demanded by the country’s creditors. During the six- hour debate that wrapped up at nearly 4.30am yesterday Konstantopoulou shrugged off demands from pro-European legislators that she resign.
The Parliament's Speraker can only be replaced through a no confidence vote, but it is unlikely Tsipras will ask her to step aside.