Vangelis Marinakis resigns Piraeus City Council seat

Evangelos Marinakis resigned his seat on the Piraeus City Council at a meeting of the Council yesterday.

In his statement to the Council, Mr. Marinakis underlined that, «After three-and-a-half years of very active participation in the public affairs of Piraeus as City Council Member, the time has come for me to bid you good bye, for reasons beyond my control.»

«Yet, I am not parting ways with Piraeus.»

«Over those three-and-a-half years, we kept and realised to the letter the central proposals and choices of our ticket, despite the obstacles that were raised by the municipality’s and the country’s financial dire straits, as well as by state bureaucracy.»

«Together with Yannis Moralis we drafted an independent ticket comprised of people who were not in search of just another job, but rather were motivated exclusively by the idea of offering to their fellow citizens of Piraeus. Certain other tickets drafted ballots which were dictated to them by partisan short-sightedness and personal ambitions.»

«I honoured to the letter all my pledges to the citizens of Piraeus. Among many projects funded at my own expense are the following – the project at Themistokleous Square in the Maniatika neighbourhood, Agion Anargyron Square in the Old Kokkinia neighbourhood, the field of Atromitos Piraeus at Kaminia, Alexandras Square, the remodeling of the facades of downgraded city buildings, the planting of 300 trees in central areas of the city, the installation of outdoor seating on the beach front, repairs of closed gyms to restore their operability, and paving sidewalks with tiles at the entrance to the city.»

«That is what I have achieved so far, and I ply forward looking all of you straight in the eye, just as I did on the first day that we met.»

«Hence, today I am tendering my resignation, following a decision taken to unjustly put me on trial, without evidence. I repeat to you as well that I have no relation to what I have been charged with, which all these years has been the vehicle for creating an incriminating communications stir around my name, which to my great chagrin was supported and highlighted by our colleagues in this chamber, based on partisan lines.»

«This organised campaign to smear my name, just as any lie, is necessarily short-lived. The people of Piraeus have already turned their backs on the political frauds and demagogues that rule the country, and who now get the low electoral support that they deserve.»

«I speak of those who say that are laboring for the interests of the people and raise their left fist, while with their right hand they sign monopoly agreements, banishing from a port that feeds hundreds of workers any inkling of free market competition. We shall soon see the negative results of this agreement. It will decimate employment and offer hunger-level wages to whomever is still left.»

«[Environment and Energy Minister] Mr. Stathakis and [Syriza MP] Mr. Dritsas, how to you feel about all this and what do you have to say for yourselves? What I have to say is that never in my life did I put stock in mud-slinging. When I decided to seek the vote of my fellow citizens, some people ,as then so too now, had one solitary aim – to scare me and to keep me from fulfilling my need to contribute to the city in which I was born and raised, and in which for years I have conducted my business affairs.»

«The result of the election was the best answer to their lies.»

«I feel blissful over the fact that I was, am, and will continue to be proud of Piraeus of myself. I will not compromise, nor bend to the mudslingers. This is my pledge to all citizens of Piraeus.»

«And you should know something more. I knew that sooner or later I would pay the price for my decision to contribute to public affairs so that Piraeus could become what politicians denied it. ‘Piraeus Victorious’ with its vision is turning a page and is working for the next day, without obsessions, shut-outs, demonisation, or dogmatism. ‘Piraeus Victorious’ is here to stay, inside and outside the city borders, for the benefit of citizens and this land.»

«The great Nikos Kazantzakis once wrote, ¨The rock, the metal, and the steel do not endure. HUMANITY endures,» Mr. Marinakis concluded.

Support from the ‘Piraeus Victorious’ ticket

On the occasion of the resignation of Evangelos Marinakis from his seat on the City Council of Piraeus, the City Council members of the ‘Piraeus Victorious’ ticket announced, inter alia, that, «The members of the City Council from the ‘Piraeus Victorious’ ticket support with all our might the City Council member who received the most votes of all, Vangelis Marinakis. His contribution until now to the greatest team of our city and the country, Olympiacos F.C., but more especially his overall offering to the city is invaluable.»

«Particularly at this extraordinarily difficult economic and social juncture, he has tirelessly offered to citizens who were and are in need. He is always there whenever the City Council or other institution seek his help.»

in.gr